ABOUT  HARRIET 

By  Clara  AVhitehill  Hunt 


■Soofefi  bp  Clara  ^!)itcI)iU  |)unt 

PUBLISHED    BV 

HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN    COMPANY 


ABOUT    HARRIET.     Illustrated  in  color  by  Maginel 

Wright  Enright. 
WHAT    SHALL  WE    READ   TO  THE    CHILDREN? 


About    Harriet 


ABOUT    HARRIET 


By 

Clara  Whitehill  Hunt 


With  Illustrations  by 
Maginel  JVright  Enright 


Boston  and  New  York 
Houghton  Mifflin  Company 

1916 


COP\  IIIGHT,    I916,    BY    CLARA  WHITEHILL    HUNT   AND    MAGINEL  WRIGHT   ENRIGHT 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


Ptihlished  IVovembfr  iqrb 


EOUC. 

UBRARI 


TO 

Grace  Rogers  Hunt 


^ 


Here  are  Seven  Stories 
ABOUT    HARRIET 


The  First  Story  tells 
What  she  did  on  Friday 


The  Second  Story  tells 
What  she  did  on  Saturday 


The  Third  Story  tells 
What  she  did  on  Sunday 


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ABOUT  HARRIET 


The  Fourth  Story  tells 
What  she  did  on  Monday 


The  Fifth  Story  tells 
What  she  did  on  Tuesday 


The  Sixth  Story  tells 
What  she  did  on  Wednesday 


The  Seventh  Story  tells 
What  she  did  on  Thursday 


What  Harriet  did  on  Friday 


ABOUT  HARRIET 


I 

THIS    IS    THE    FIRST   STORY  ABOUT    HARRIET 
IT   TELLS   WHAT   SHE    DID    ON    FRIDAY 

Harriet  is  a  little  girl  four  years 
old.  She  lives  with  her  Father  and 
Mother  in  a  great  huge  city. 

When  Harriet  opened  her  eyes  one 
Friday  morning,  the  first  thing  she 
thought  about  was  her  baby,  who  al- 
ways   sleeps   in  a  wee,  small  crib    be- 

3 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

side  Harriet's  big  crib.  Harriet  reached 
down  to  the  little  bed  and  called, 
"  Time  to  wake  up,  Florella  May." 

Then  she  lifted  dolly  into  her  own 
bed,  hugged  her  close,  and  told  her 
the  very  same  story  that  Father  had 
read  to  Harriet  at  bedtime  last  night. 

Florella  May  listened  very  quietly. 
She  liked  best  of  all  Harriet's  stories 
the  one  about  "  The  Three  Bears." 
It  made  her  shiver  when  Mamma  Har- 
riet spoke  in  agreat,gruffvoice,  like  the 
Big  Bear's,  and  she  wished  very  much 
for  a  taste  of  Baby  Bear's  porridge. 

After  the  story  was  finished,  Har- 
riet's Mother  came  and  said,  "  Now, 
little  daughter,  it 's  almost  time  for 
your  porridge." 

So  Mother  helped  her  dress,  but 
Harriet  put  on  her  shoes  and  stock- 
ings all  by  herself.  There  was  not 
time   to   dress    Florella  May,  because 

4 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 

Father  was  waiting  for  breakfast ;  but 
dolly  seemed  glad  to  take  another  nap. 

When  Harriet  ran  into  the  dining- 
room,  Father  called  :  — 

"Hullo,  Miss  Dusenberry!  How  do 
you  find  yourself  this  fine  day  ?  " 

And  Harriet  jumped  into  Father's 
arms  and  answered  gayly:  — 

"  I  find  myself  ready  to  go  to  the 
beach  with  you,  Mr.  Father  Robert- 
son ! 

Then  Father  laughed, — 

"Oho!  What  do  you  suppose  my 
big  boys  would  think  if  their  teacher 
went  off  to  play  on  a  school  day  ?  " 

"  They  would  think,  '  We  '11  go  to 
the  beach  too'!"  she  answered  quickly. 

But  Mother  said  :  "  Oh,  we  are  n't 
ready  to  go  to  the  beach  to-day.  You 
and  I  have  a  great  deal  of  baking  to 
do  first,  or  there  w^ould  n't  be  lunch 
enough.   You  know  Old  Ocean  always 

5 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

makes  little  girls  and  big  Fathers  want 
to  eat  a  great  many  sandwiches  and 
a  great  many  cookies;  and  our  cooky 
jar  is  almost  empty." 

"Shall  we  go  to-morrow  ?  "  asked 
Harriet.   "Is  to-morrow  Saturday  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  answered  Mother.  "  But 
come  to  breakfast  now  or  our  good 
food  will  be  quite  cold." 

Then  Father  lifted  Harriet  into 
her  high  chair  and  tied  on  her  bib, 
and  Harriet  said  a  little  "Thank  you" 
to  God  for  the  nice  breakfast.  Then 
she  picked  up  her  birthday  spoon  and 
began  to  eat  her  oatmeal. 

When  Harriet  had  eaten  every  bit, 
she  smiled  happily,  for  down  at  the  bot- 
tom of  her  bowl  was  a  picture  which 
she  always  liked  to  see.  There  was  a  lit- 
tle Japanese  garden  and  in  the  middle 
of  it  was  a  tiny  bridge  across  a  wee 
lake,  and   two   funny  little  Japanese 

6 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 


children  were  leaning  over  the  railing 
of  the  bridge  throwing  crumbs  to  the 
swans  in  the  water.  Harriet  owned  a 
great  many  picture  dishes,  because  she 
had  two  Grandmothers  and  four  aunt- 
ies and  three  uncles,  and  many  friends 
who  loved  to  give  her  presents ;  but 
ever  since  Mother  had  read  the  story 
of  "  The  Japanese  Twins "  Harriet 
liked  this  bowl  best  of  all. 

Soon  Father  jumped  up,  kissed 
Mother  and  Harriet  good-bye,  and 
started  off  to  catch  his  train. 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

Harriet  ran  to  the  window  to  wave 
her  hand  and  throw  kisses  till  Father 
turned  the  corner  and  she  could  see 
him  no  longer. 

Then  the  busy  day  began.  In  fact, 
there  was  so  much  to  do  that  Florella 
May  slept  in  her  nightie  all  day  long, 
because  her  httle  Mother  did  not  find 
time  to  dress  her. 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 

First  there  were  the  dishes  to  wash 
and  wipe.  Harriet  knew  how  to  wipe 
the  knives  and  forks  and  spoons  till 
they  were  so  bright  that  she  could  see 
her  face  in  them.  This  was  a  great 
help  to  Mother. 

Next  there  were  beds  to  make  and 
rooms  to  be  put  in  order;  and  then 
it  was  time  for  cooky-making.  This 
was  the  most  fun  of  all. 

Mother  worked  at  a  high  table, 
with  a  big  moulding-board  and  a  large 
rolling-pin,  a  great  bowl  and  wooden 
spoon,  and  cooking  dishes  of  large  size. 

Harriet  stood  by  her  own  little 
table  and  she  had  a  little  moulding- 
board  and  a  little  rolling-pin,  a  wee 
bowl  and  a  tiny  wooden  spoon. 

First  Mother  made  the  cooky  dough, 
then  she  put  some  of  it  into  Harriet's 
bowl.  Harriet  stirred  briskly  for  a 
long  time.    Then  she  sifted  some  flour 

9 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

through  her  tiny  sifter  on  to  her 
moulding-board.  Then  she  rolled  out 
the  dough,  very  thin.  And  then  she 
cut  out  the  cookies. 

First  she  used  a  crinkly-edged  cut- 
ter as  large  and  round  as  a  fifty-cent 
piece. 

Next  she  cut  out  a  tiny  heart,  like 
a  valentine  the  postman  had  brought 
her  last  Valentine's  Day,  —  only  the 
valentine  was  red  and  the  cookies 
were  yellow  as  gold. 

Last  of  all  she  used  the  cutter  that 
made  a  lot  of  little  baby  moon  cook- 
ies, just  like  the  tiny  golden  boat  that 
Harriet  loved  to  watch  as  it  floated 
on  the  sky  ocean  at  night. 

Harriet  was  too  little  to  attend  to 
baking  her  cookies  in  the  great  hot 
oven,  so  Mother  did  that  for  her, 
while  Harriet  climbed  into  the  rock- 
ing-chair   in    the    sitting-room    and 

lO 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 

rocked  and  sang  to  herself,  making- 
believe  she  was  in  the  steamboat  on 
the  way  to  Maine  where  she  and  Father 
and  Mother  lived  in  summer. 

After  a  while  Mother  called,  "  Do 
you  want  to  see  your  cookies,  dear  ? 
They  are  all  out  of  the  oven." 

Harriet  ran  into  the  kitchen  and 
gazed  with  delight  at  her  hearts  and 
rounds  and  baby  moons;  and,  oh  joy! 
there  in  their  midst  was  a  tall,  thin, 
boy  cooky  and  a  short,  plump,  girl 
cooky  that  Mother  had  made  as  a 
surprise  for  her  little  daughter. 

Harriet  gave  her  Mother  a  bear 
hug  of  thankfulness,  but  she  did  not 
ask  to  eat  anything  then,  because 
she  knew  that  cookies  hot  from  the 
oven  are  n't  good  for  a  little  girl's 
"tummy." 

After  a  long,  satisfied  look  at  the 
panful  Harriet  asked:  — 

1 1 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

'' Now^  what  are  we  going  to  do, 
Mother  dearie  ?  " 

"I  think  I  must  next  smooth  out 
the  wrinkles  in  your  brown  Hnen 
dress,"  said  Mother.  "  That  is  a  good 
dress  for  the  beach,  and  though  it  is 
not  soiled,  it  is  a  little  too  mussed 
for  the  first  part  of  the  day." 

"  It  '11  have  lots  and  lots  of  wrinkles 
in  it  the  last  part  of  the  day,  won't 
it.  Mother?"  said  Harriet  gleefully. 

"Yes,  indeed!"  laughed  Mother. 
"  After  a  day  in  the  sand  and  the 
puddles  it  will  be  quite  ready  for  Mrs. 
O'Brien  to  take  home  to  wash  on 
Monday." 

While  Mother  ironed  the  linen 
dress,  Harriet  with  her  own  little  iron 
pressed  the  wrinkles  out  of  Tommy 
Sweet  Tooth's  blue  jumpers.  Tommy 
Sweet  Tooth  was  Harriet's  boy  doll. 
He   had   been    a   present   from   Aunt 

12 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 

Grace  on  Harriet's  last  birthday.  On 
the  same  birthday  Aunt  Helen  had 
given  Harriet  the  story  of  a  funny 
little  boy  doll  whose  name  was  Tommy 
Sweet  Tooth,  so  it  is  n't  any  wonder 
that  the  birthday  "  truly  boy "  was 
given  the  same  name  as  the  birthday 
story  boy. 

Presently  it  was  lunch-time,  and 
after  lunch  nap-time;  and  then  it 
was  time  for  a  walk  in  the  sunshine. 

Harriet  loved  to  walk  on  the  Park- 
way not  far  from  the  quiet  little  street 
on  which  she  lived.  The  Parkway  was 
a  great  wide  avenue,  almost  wide 
enough  for  three  streets.  First  there 
was  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the  row 
of  high  brick  houses.  Along  the  edge 
of  the  sidewalk  was  a  strip  of  green 
grass  with  a  row  of  tall  trees  stand- 
ing with  their  roots  in  the  soft  grass. 
Beyond  the  trees  was   a   paved   road- 

13 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 

way  for  heavy  wagons  and  grocers' 
and  butchers'  carts. 

Then  came  a  broad  gravel  walk, 
bordered  with  grass  and  roofed  over 
with  two  rows  of  beautiful,  stately 
trees.  Along  both  sides  of  the  gravel 
walk  were  benches;  and  on  this  bright 
June  afternoon  the  benches  were  filled 
with  mothers  and  nurses,  while  ever 
so  many  babies  were  sleeping  and 
laughing  and  crowing  in  their  pretty 
carriages,  and  ever  so  many  little  boys 
and  girls  were  trundling  hoops  and 
dragging  little  carts  and  pushing  doll 
carriages  and  running  about  merrily 
in  the  sunshine. 

Beyond  the  gravel  walk  was  a  wide, 
wide  road  along  which  automobiles 
whizzed  swiftly  and  splendid  horses 
drew  shining  carriages  on  their  way 
to  the  Park  at  the  end  of  the  Park- 
way. And  again  beyond  the  wide  road 

15 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

was  another  gravel  walk  and  another 
narrow  roadway,  and  another  side- 
walk. 

So  it  is  no  wonder  that  Harriet  felt 
it  a  long  and  dangerous  journey  to 
cross  the  Parkway;  and  even  though 
the  splendid  policeman  on  his  beauti- 
ful, glossy  horse  was  on  guard  to  take 
care  of  the  people  afoot,  Harriet  al- 
ways clung  tightly  to  Mother's  hand 
till  they  were  safe  under  the  trees  on 
the  gravel. 

There  isn't  time  to  tell  about  all 
the  things  that  Harriet  saw  on  that 
Friday  afternoon.  It  was  the  first 
warm,  bright  day  after  many  cloudy 
or  rainy  ones,  so  it  seemed  as  if  every- 
body had  come  out  to  enjoy  the  sun- 
shine. 

There  was  the  peanut  man  with 
his  shaggy  pony  and  red  cart  and  the 
squeaky   whistle    that    kept    blowing 

i6 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 

while  the  peanuts  were  roasting  in  the 
Httle  oven. 

There  was  the  balloon  man  carrying 
red  and  yellow  and  green  and  purple 
balloons  on  one  arm,  a  basket  of  gay 


17 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

paper  windmills  on  the  other  arm, 
while  a  whistle  in  his  mouth  made  the 
children  think  a  canary  bird  must  be 
flying  about  the  Parkway.  Once  Har- 
riet had  seen  an  automobile  stop  at 
the  curb  to  let  a  little  boy  buy  a  yel- 
low balloon,  which  his  father  fastened 
to  the  front  of  the  car.  Then  the  auto- 
mobile whirled  away  with  the  balloon 
bobbing  in  the  wind  before  it. 

There  was  the  hurdy-gurdy — or 
street  piano,  some  children  called  it 
—  played  by  a  dark-skinned  Italian 
whose  gayly  dressed  wife  kept  time 
with  her  tambourine  and  then  passed 
it  around  for  pennies.  Harriet  always 
liked  to  give  pennies  to  the  Italian 
woman,  because  she  smiled  so  brightly 
and  said,  "Thanks,  little  Lady,"  so 
politely  to  Harriet. 

There  were  so  many  things  to  see 
that    Harriet   thought    the   afternoon 

i8 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  FRIDAY 


had    been    very    short    when    Mother 
said  :  — 

"  It  is  time  to  go  home  now,  dear, 
or    Father  will    get   there    before  we 

do." 

You  may  be  sure  that  at  the  end 
of  this  busy  day  Harriet  was  quite 
willing  to  go  to  bed  early  ;  only,  of 
course,  she  had  to  have  her  bedtime 
story  first. 

This   time   she  chose    the   story  of 

19 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

"The  Elephant's  Child."  It  was  such 
fun  to  pull  Father's  nose,  the  way 
the  crocodile  pulled  the  inquisitive 
little  elephant's,  and  to  hear  Father 
say,  "Led  go,  you  are  hurtig  be!" 
just  the  way  the  elephant  child  talked 
in  the  "Just  so"  story. 

After  the  story  came  the  good- 
night prayer,  then  oh,  so  many  hugs 
and  kisses  for  Father  and  Mother,  and 
in  two  minutes  more  Harriet  was  fast 
asleep. 

So  that  is  the  end  of  the  First  Story 
about  Harriet   and  what   she  did   on 

Friday. 


What  Harriet  did  on  Saturday 


CT- 


II 

THIS  IS  THE  SECOND  STORY  ABOUT  HARRIET 
IT  TELLS  WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 

The  very  minute  her  eyes  opened 
the  next  morning  Harriet  called:  — 

"Is  the  sun  shining?    Are  we  going 
to  the  beach  to-day  ?  " 

And  her  Mother  answered  :  — 

"  Yes,  it   is   exactly  the   right   kind 
of  a  day  for  the  beach." 

23 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

You  may  be  sure  it  did  not  take 
Harriet  long  to  dress  on  that  morn- 
ing. And  poor  Florella  May  got  no 
attention  at  all.  She  lay  in  her  little 
crib  in  her  nightie  for  another  long 
day,  but  she  did  n't  seem  to  mind 
it  a  bit.  As  her  little  Mother  often 
remarked,  Florella  May  had  a  very 
nice  disposition. 

Harriet  was  so  excited  that  she 
could  not  eat  enough  of  her  oatmeal 
to  uncover  the  Japanese  garden.  She 
could  hardly  wait  for  Father  and 
Mother  to  get  ready  to  start,  but  it 
was  really  only  a  short  time  before 
they  were  closing  the  big  front  door 
and  walking  down  the  street  toward 
the  trolley  car. 

Father  carried  the  suitcase  which 
held  the  lunch-boxes,  the  towel,  Har- 
riet's rompers.  Father's  book,  and 
Mother's   knitting.    Mother  carried   a 

24 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 

cloak  for  Harriet  in  case  cool  winds 
should  blow  up  before  the  end  of  the 
day.  And  Harriet  held  a  bright  red 
pail  and  a  shiny  new  shovel,  and  you 
know  what  they  were  for ! 

Down  at  the  corner  they  stopped 
for  the  trolley  car.  Although  it  was  so 
early  in  the  morning  the  very  first 
car  that  came  along  was  almost  full 
of  happy   little    boys    and  girls   with 


25 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

their  mothers  and  aunties  and  their 
lunches  and  pails  and  shovels.  There 
were  n't  many  fathers  on  the  car,  be- 
cause not  all  the  little  children  were 
so  fortunate  as  Harriet  in  having  a 
Father  who  could  play  with  her  on 
Saturdays  now  and  then. 

The  motorman  stopped  the  car, 
Father  helped  Mother  into  a  seat  and 
swung  Harriet  up  into  Mother's  lap, 
then  he  stood  in  the  aisle  because  all 
the  seats  were  filled. 

It  was  not  a  very  pretty  ride  through 
the  city  streets,  but  Harriet  was  in- 
terested in  everything  she  saw.  Pres- 
ently they  passed  the  Park,  and  that 
was  lovely.  It  was  so  pleasant  to  look 
in  under  the  trees  and  see  the  chil- 
dren at  play  on  the  soft  grass. 

In  less  than  an  hour  they  were 
getting  out  of  the  car  and  walking 
through    a   great   high  open    building 

26 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 


out  on  to  the  board  walk  from  which 
they  could  see  Old  Ocean,  with  his 
little  waves  dancing  and  winking  in 
the  sunshine,  and  his  big  waves  rum- 
bling and  roaring  as  they  broke  on 
the  sand  under  the  board  walk. 

After  a  long,  happy  first  look  at 
the  water  and  some  deep,  long  breaths 
of  its  salt  breezes.  Father  said :  — 

"  Come,  we  don't  want  to  stay 
27 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

here  among  the  merry-go-rounds  and 
side-shows.  Let 's  go  over  to  Sunset 
Beach  where  we  can  get  down  on  the 
sand  and  enjoy  the  waves  close  at 
hand." 

So  they  walked  and  walked,  first 
on  the  board  walk  and  then  on  the 
sand.  Harriet  kept  her  hand  in  Fa- 
ther's because  this  was  her  first  visit 
to  the  Ocean  for  almost  a  year,  and 
she  was  a  little  bit  afraid  that  the  big 
roaring  waves  might  run  up  so  high 
that  they  would  gobble  her  up  and 
take  her  down,  down  into  the  green 
water  to  feed  the  little  fishes. 

After  a  while  they  came  to  a  nice 
quiet  part  of  the  beach  and  Father 
paid  a  man  for  two  easy  seats  with 
awnings  over  them  to  shade  them 
from  the  sun.  Then  Mother  told  Har- 
riet she  might  take  off  her  shoes  and 
stockings  and  put  on  her  rompers. 

28 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 


Oh,  how  good  the  soft  sand  felt  to 
little  feet  that  had  been  cooped  up 
in  shoes  and  stockings  for  most  of  a 
year!  Very  soon  Harriet  lost  all  fear 
of  her  old  friend  the  Ocean,  and  was 
merrily  playing  "tag"  with  the  little 
waves,  which  every  now  and  then 
caught  up  with  her  and  gave  her  feet 
a  splashing. 

After  she  had  run  and  jumped  and 
29 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

pranced  and  squealed,  "letting  off 
steam,"  as  Father  called  it,  she  ran  to 
her  Mother  and  said  :  — 

"Mother,  I  'm  hungry  !  " 

"I  thought  so  !  "  said  Mother,  with 
a  laugh.  "  Very  well,  you  may  have  a 
little  lunch  now  to  make  up  for  the 
breakfast  you  did  not  eat,  but  we  '11 
not  have  our  real  luncheon  until  later." 

So  Harriet  sat  down  beside  her 
Mother's  chair  and  ate  two  thin  bread- 
and-butter  sandwiches  and  one  large 
cooky,  and  then  she  drank  some  milk 
out  of  one  of  the  little  paper  cups 
that  Mother  always  kept  on  hand  for 
picnics  and  traveling. 

After  her  little  lunch  was  finished, 
she  took  her  pail  and  shovel  down  to 
where  the  sand  was  damp.  First  she 
filled  the  pail  even  full  of  sand  and 
patted  down  the  top,  very  smooth, 
with   her   shovel.     Then    she   pressed 

30 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 

her  hands  into  the  smooth  sand  ;  and 
then  she  trotted  up  to  her  Father,  say- 
ing:  — 

"  See,  Daddy,  I  have  two  hands  in 
my  pail  and  two  hands  on  my  arms." 

"So  I  see,"  said  Father.  "You  are 
quite  a  handy  young  person." 

Next  Harriet  dug  a  deep  hole,  sat 
down  and  put  her  feet  into  it,  and 
then  scooped  the  sand  back  into  the 
hole,  burying  her  feet  tightly  under 
the  sand. 

"Oh,  Daddy  !"  she  shrieked.  "I've 
lost  my  feet.  The  little  gnomes  down 
in  the  ground  are  pulling  them!" 

"You  don't  say  so!"  said  Father. 
"  Then  I  suppose  you  '11  have  to  make 
those  two  extra  hands  serve  in  place 
of  feet  hereafter." 

"I  know!  Like  Jocko  !  His  back 
feet  are  almost  like  hands,"  said  Har- 
riet. 

31 


ABOUT  HARRIET 


Jocko  was  a  little  monkey  at  the 
^' Zoo."  He  was  very  tame  and  all  the 
children  loved  him.  You  shall  hear 
about  him  in  another  story. 

Next  Harriet  decided  that  she  would 
make  a  house.  With  the  edge  of  her 
shovel  she  marked  out  a  square  on 
the  sand.  This  was  the  kitchen  of  her 
house.  Then  she  made  a  little  mound 
of  sand  against  one  wall  of  her  kitchen, 
cut  off  the  top  and  the  sides  of  the 
mound  so  that  they  were  flat  in- 
stead of  rounding,  and  this  was  the 
kitchen  stove.  She  marked  six  little 
circles    on    the    top   of   the  stove   for 

32 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 

the  places  on  which  to  set  the  cook- 
ing dishes  over  the  gas  flames. 

After  looking  with  pride  at  her 
stove,  she  was  about  to  begin  on  a 
table,  when  a  little  girl  with  sparkling 
black  eyes  ran  up  to  her  and,  after  a 
look  at  Harriet's  work,  said  :  — 

"  Hello !  Are  you  making  a  house  ? " 

"Yes,"  answered  Harriet. 

"I  '11  make  one  next  door  and  then 
we  can  visit  each  other." 

"All  right,"  said  Harriet,  very  much 
pleased  to  have  a  playmate. 

The  two  little  girls  worked  busily 
side  by  side  for  some  minutes.  By  the 
time  Harriet  had  finished  her  kitchen, 
and  Marjorie  —  that  was  the  new  little 
girl's  name — had  marked  out  a  good 
many  rooms,  but  had  not  furnished 
any  of  them,  the  little  neighbors  be- 
gan making  calls  on  each  other.  And 
before  long  Marjorie  exclaimed  :  — 

33 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

"Oh,  let's  dig  some  wells  and  see 
the  waves  come  up  and  fill  them!" 

So  they  left  their  houses  unfinished 
and  began  to  dig  a  number  of  deep 
holes,  keeping  watch  to  run  out  of 
the  way  when  a  wave  now  and  then 
ran  up  high  and  filled  the  holes. 

In  a  short  time  Marjorie  said:  — 

''My  Mother  brought  my  tin  dishes 
in  her  bag.  Let 's  make  some  pies 
and  cakes  in  them." 

Marjorie  scampered  off  and  soon 
came  running  back  with  her  tiny  doll 
kitchen  dishes  in  her  hands.  She  gave 
half  of  them  to  Harriet.  In  a  few 
minutes  each  little  cook  had  made  a 
row  of  pies  and  cakes  and  cookies 
which  looked  so  good  that  Marjorie 
exclaimed :  — 

"They  look  good  enough  to  eat. 
Let's!" 

By  this  time  Harriet  was  so  charmed 

34 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 

with  her  lively  new  friend  that  she 
was  ready  to  do  anything  Marjorie 
suggested,  so  those  two  little  girls  put 
as  much  as  a  spoonful  of  damp  sand 
into  their  silly  little  mouths ! 

Then  how  they  spluttered  and 
made  wry  faces,  and  Marjorie  said :  — 

"Ugh  !  It's  almost  as  bad  as  medi- 
cine. Oh,  I'll  tell  you!  Play  you're 
sick  and  I'm  the  doctor  and  I'll 
come  to  visit  you." 

"  W-e-U  —  but  don't  make  me 
take  any  bad  medicine,"  said  Harriet 
doubtfully. 

"No;  I'll  just  say  you  are  run 
down  and  need  to  go  to  the  country 
at  once  to  rest." 

This  sounded  very  nice.  The  next 
thing  to  do  was  to  make  a  bed.  This 
they  did  by  digging  a  long,  shallow 
place  in  the  warm,  dry  part  of  the 
sand.    First  Harriet  lay  down  in   the 

35 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 

bed,  then  Marjorie  tried  it;  but  it  was 
not  big  enough  for  Marjorie,  who  was 
two  years  older  than  Harriet. 

So  Marjorie  changed  her  mind 
about  being  the  doctor,  and  decided 
that  she  would  be  a  patient  too,  lying 
in  a  hospital  bed  next  to  Harriet's. 

Harriet  and  Marjorie  had  a  beau- 
tiful morning,  and  when  their  Mothers 
called  them  to  lunch  they  agreed  to 
play  together  again  after  they  had 
eaten. 

Oh,  what  a  good  lunch  Mother  had 
brought,  all  wrapped  in  waxed  paper 
that  had  kept  the  sandwiches  so  fresh. 
There  were  lettuce  sandwiches  and 
chicken  sandwiches  and  egg  sand- 
wiches, and  little  round  sandwiches 
made  of  brown  bread  and  cream 
cheese.  There  were  olives  and  cookies 
and  oranges  and  pink-and-white  can- 
dies.   There    was    milk    to    drink    for 

37 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

Harriet  and  hot  coffee  from  the  ther- 
mos bottle  for  Father  and  Mother. 
And  they  ate  and  ate  till  every  crumb 
was  gone.  And  after  it  was  all  eaten 
Harriet  did  n't  seem  to  care  about 
playing! 

She  climbed  up  into  Father's  lap  and 
said:  — 

"Tell  me  a  story,  Daddy,  please." 
So  Father,  looking  out  over  the 
wide,  wide  waters,  away  out  to  where 
the  sky  seemed  to  come  down  and  rest 
on  the  ocean,  told  about  brave  sail- 
ors, and  lighthouses  shining  out  in  the 
dark  to  save  ships  from  going  to  pieces 
upon  the  rocks;  and  about  tiny  little 
coral  animals  that  build  big  islands ; 
and  about  divers  who  go  down  to  the 
bottom  of  the  sea  for  the  pearls  that 
are  hidden  away  in  oyster  shells.  And 
as  Harriet  watched  the  lovely  sea  gulls, 
now  flying  high  in  the  air,  now  floating 

38 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 


like  little  boats  on  the  water,  Mother 
recited  a  poem  that  she  had  learned 
when  she  was  a  little  girl.  It  was  called 
"The  Sea  Gull,"  and  it  made  Harriet 
look  at  the  gulls  with  new  wonder  to 
think  how  fearless  they  were  on  the 
stormy  waves  and  the  night-black  sea. 

After  a  time  Marjorie  came  running 
up,  and  Father  said:  — 

"You  must  introduce  me  to  your 
new  friend,  Harriet." 

So  Harriet  said,  "This  is  Marjorie, 
Daddy  and  Mother." 

39 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

And  Marjorie  shook  hands  with 
Harriet's  Father  and  Mother,  and  then 
Father  and  the  little  girls  had  a  game 
of  romps. 

Father  was  a  galloping  horse  with 
each  little  girl  taking  a  turn  as  a  rider 
on  his  back.  And  when  Father  made- 
believe  that  his  drivers  had  worn  him 
out,  although  they  teased  him  to  play 
with  them  longer,  he  galloped  back  to 
his  seat  beside  Mother,  and  tumbling 
the  little  girls  into  the  sand,  he  ex- 
claimed :  — 

"Shoo!  Shoo!  You  insatiable  ty- 
rants !  I  've  got  to  get  to  work  on  this 
book." 

So  Marjorie  and  Harriet  went  back 
to  their  shovels,  and  they  had  such 
a  good  time  that  they  were  quite 
surprised  when  Harriet's  Mother 
called :  — 

"  Come,  dear,  it 's  time  for  us  to  get 
40 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SATURDAY 

ready  to  go  home.  We  don't  want  to 
wait  till  the  cars  are  crowded,  as  they 
will  be  later." 

Harriet  was  sorry  to  say  good-bye 
to  Marjorie,  but  there  was  no  help  for 
it. 

Soon  the  little  bare  feet  were  rubbed 
with  the  towel,  the  rompers  came  off 
and  the  shoes  and  stockings  went  on, 
the  suitcase  was  packed,  and  Father, 
Mother,  and  Harriet  were  walking  to 
the  car. 

Very  soon  after  they  were  settled  in 
the  car  Harriet  fell  asleep  in  Father's 
arms.  The  salt  air  and  the  play  and 
the  no  afternoon  nap  had  made  her 
so  sleepy  that  she  only  half-waked  up 
when  they  got  to  their  corner. 

Father  carried  her  over  his  shoulder 
to  their  home.  And  Mother  undressed 
her  and  laid  her  in  her  little  bed  and 
she    did    not    know    anything    about 

41 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

what  was  happening   to  her,  she  was 
so  sleepy ! 

So  that  is  the  end  of  the  Second 
Story  about  Harriet  and  what  she  did 
on  Saturday. 


What  Harriet  did  on  Sunday 


Ill 

THIS    IS   THE    THIRD  STORY  ABOUT  HARRIET 
IT   TELLS   WHAT    SHE    DID    ON    SUNDAY 

Although  Harriet  had  gone  to  sleep 
so  early,  she  did  not  waken  until  late 
the  next  morning.  Father  and  Mother 
had  eaten  their  breakfast  while  Harriet 
was  still  far  away  in  Dreamland.  After 
a  while  a  very  bright  little  ray  of  sun- 
shine ran  across  Harriet's  face  and  she 
opened  her  eyes  quickly  and  sat  up  in 
bed. 

45 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

"Mother  dear,  what  day  is  this?" 
she  called. 

"Oh,  good  morning,  dear,"  said 
Mother.  "This  is  Sunday  and  a  very 
beautiful  Sunday  it  is,  too." 

"Are  we  going  to  church  to-day?" 
asked  Harriet. 

"  Yes,"  said  her  Mother ;  "  since  you 
have  waked  up  at  last.  I  began  to  think 
Father  would  have  to  go  alone." 

Then  Harriet  ran  to  the  bathroom, 
where  she  was  soon  splashing  in  the 
big  white  tub.  And  when  her  Mother 
had  rubbed  her  dry  and  when  her  hair 
had  been  brushed  till  it  shone,  Harriet 
said:  — 

"  Now  I  'm  as  clean  as  the  children 
of  Grubby  lea,  after  Clean  Peter  had 
scrubbed  them." 

"Clean  Peter"  was  another  of 
Harriet's  picture-book  friends. 

Then    her    Mother  helped  put  on 
46 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 


the  dainty  underclothes  and  the  white 
socks  and  ankle  ties,  but  she  did  not 
put  on  Harriet's  dress.   She  said:  — 

"  I  think  I  '11  let  you  wear  your  blue 
kimono  until  after  breakfast,  then 
we  '11  be  sure  not  to  have  any  spots  on 
the  new  white  dress." 

So  Harriet  ate  her  breakfast  sitting 
at  the  table  all  by  herself.  She  was  a 
very  hungry  little  girl,  too,  because  it 

47 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

was  such  a  long  time  since  she  had 
last  eaten. 

Beside  her  big,  juicy  orange  and  a 
large  dish  of  oatmeal,  she  ate  a  deli- 
cious soit-boiledeggandaslice  of  toast, 
"just  the  right  shade  of  brown,"  she 
said;  and  she  drank  almost  two  cup- 
fuls  of  milk. 

"  Well !  Well !  "  said  Father.  "  Some- 
body has  a  big  appetite  this  morning  ! 
If  one  day  of  ocean  breezes  makes  our 
daughter  so  hungry,  what  do  you  sup- 
pose will  happen.  Little  Mother,  if  we 
spend  a  whole  summer  on  the  Maine 
coast  ?  " 

"I  hope  it  will  mean  that  we'll 
bring  home  a  little  girl  with  more 
flesh  on  her  bones  than  Harriet  has 
now,"  said  Mother.  "  She  has  not  been 
hungry  enough  since  she  had  the 
measles  last  spring." 

The  next  thing  to  do  was  to  put  on 
48 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 

the  new  white  dress.  This  was  a  very 
pretty  dress,  because  Aunt  Maud,  who 
knew  how  to  do  all  sorts  of  lovely 
things  with  her  fingers,  had  made  it  for 
Harriet.  There  were  tiny  white  roses 
embroidered  here  and  there  upon  it. 
And  when  the  white  hat  went  on, 
with  its  wreath  of  little  pink  rosebuds 
matching  the  pink  bow  in  her  hair, 
Harriet's  Father  and  Mother  thought 
their  little  girl  looked  sweeter  than  the 
June  day  itself. 

The  walk  to  church  was  very  pleas- 
ant. All  the  streets  looked  especially 
clean  and  tidy.  The  sky  above  was  so 
blue,  so  blue,  and  a  gentle  breeze  made 
the  fresh  green  leaves  dance  and  sparkle 
in  the  sunshine. 

Some  of  the  people  were  out  in 
their  tiny  square  front  yards  tending 
their  bits  of  flower  beds  which  made 
even  the  city  streets  look  gay.    Many 

49 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

fathers  and  mothers  and  children,  many 
young  ladies  and  gentlemen,  all  dressed 
in  their  best,  were  walking  along  the 
streets,  some  on  their  way  to  church, 
others  going  to  the  train  for  a  day  in 
the  country,  perhaps. 

It  was  only  a  few  blocks  from  Har- 
riet's house  to  the  church.  As  they 
went  into  the  door  the  great  organ 
was  playing  one  of  the  lovely  things 
that  Harriet's  Mother  often  played  on 
the  piano  at  home.  So  Harriet  en- 
joyed listening,  and  feeling  the  throb 
of  the  organ  as  it  almost  seemed  to 
make  the  church  building  tremble 
with  its  music. 

Soon  the  minister  came  into  the  pul- 
pit and  all  the  people  rose  and  sang, 
'<  Praise  God  from  Whom  all  blessings 
flow."  Harriet  sang  at  the  top  of  her 
voice.  She  knew  that "  blessings "  meant 
her  dear  Father  and  Mother,  her  pleas- 

50 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 


ant  home,  her  kind  aunties  and  uncles 
and  grandparents,  her  books  and  toys 
and  days  at  the  beach  and  the  Park, 
and  all  the  many,  many  things  that 
made  her  a  happy  little  girl.  And  so 
she  joined  in  thanking  God  for  send- 
ing her  these  blessings. 

The  first  part  of  the  church  service 
was  always  more  interesting  than  the 
last.  There  was  a  chance  to  stand  for 
the  hymns  when  a  little  girl  got  tired 
of  sitting  still.  There  were  the  pennies 

51 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

to  drop  into  the  collection  plate  as  it 
was  passed.  The  minister,  too,  always 
preached  a  little  sermon  for  the  chil- 
dren, and  he  told  stories  so  clearly  that 
even  little  four-year-old  girls  liked 
to  listen,  and  so  did  big  fathers  and 
mothers. 

To  sit  still  through  the  grown-ups' 
sermon  was  rather  tiresome  and  many 
of  the  boys  and  girls  went  home  after 
the  children's  sermon.  Harriet,  how- 
ever, stayed  with  her  parents,  because 
there  w^as  no  big  sister  to  take  her 
home. 

She  did  not  mind  the  quiet  time 
very  much,  because  she  had  a  busy 
little  mind  for  making  up  stories,  and 
Mother  always  brought  a  small  picture 
book  and  paper  and  pencil  for  Harriet 
to  amuse  herself  with. 

The  book  to-day  was  "  Peter  Rab- 
bit," and  what  was  more  delightful, 
.     52 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 

Harriet  had  her  Peter  Rabbit  hand- 
kerchief with  her.  She  knew  every 
word  of  the  story,  so  she  made-believe 
read  the  words  herself.  Then  she  pre- 
tended to  show  the  book  Peter  Rab- 
bit his  picture  on  her  handkerchief, 
whispering  to  the  two  pictures  very 
softly. 

After  a  while  she  drew  pictures ;  and 
then  she  got  tired  of  everything  and 
climbed  into  Father's  arms,  snuggling 
down  and  resting  quietly  till  the  end 
of  the  service. 

How  good  it  felt  to  be  able  to  move 
about  and  talk  again  !  Harriet  had  to 
shake  hands  with  a  great  many  friends 
on  the  way  down  the  aisle;  and  when 
the  minister  in  the  vestibule  saw  her, 
he  picked  her  up  in  his  arms  and 
kissed  her,  while  Harriet  hugged  him 
so  hard  that  his  face  got  quite  red  with 
the  squeezing.    He  seemed  to  like  the 

53 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

hugging,  though,  because  he  and  Har- 
riet were  special  friends. 

On  the  walk  home  the  streets  were 
even  fuller  of  people  than  they  had 
been  earlier  in  the  day.  Every  one 
looked  glad  of  the  bright  Sunday  when 
there  was  time  to  be  out  of  doors  and 
one  did  not  have  to  hurry  off  to  a  long 
day's  work. 

As  soon  as  they  reached  home,  Har- 
riet went  to  Florella  May's  crib  and 
picked  up  her  dolly,  saying,  "Why,  my 


54 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 

poor  little  daughter,  did  you  think 
Mother  had  forgotten  you  ?"  And  she 
tried  to  make  up  to  her  neglected  child 
by  being  very  loving. 

She  took  off  Florella  May's  nightie 
and  dressed  her  carefully,  from  her 
hair-ribbon  to  her  little  shoes;  then 
she  sat  inher  rocking-chair  and  rocked 
her  baby  till  Mother  said  that  dinner 
was  ready. 

Florella  May  had  to  have  a  chair  at 
the  table  next  to  Harriet's  chair,  and 
Harriet  gave  her  child  many  tastes  of 
the  food  from  her  own  plate. 

Dinner  on  Sunday  was  always  a 
simple  meal,  but  the  dessert  was  sure 
to  be  a  fine  surprise.  After  the  dishes 
for  the  first  course  had  been  taken  to 
the  kitchen,  Harriet  could  hardly  sit 
still.  And  when  Father  brought  in,  on 
a  platter,  a  great  pink  mound  with  bits 
of  red  showing  in   it,  Harriet  bobbed 

55 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

up  and  down  in  her  high  chair,  crying, 
"  Strawberry  ice  cream  !  Oh,  goody, 
goody !  " 

Sure  enough,  it  was  ice  cream  with 
real  strawberries  crushed  in  it,  and 
Father  had  made  it  in  their  own  freezer 
while  Harriet  had  been  asleep.  Beside, 
there  were  little  cakes  that  came  in 
tin  boxes  from  the  grocery  store ;  and 
Harriet  ate  very  slowly  so  as  to  make 
the  good  taste  last  as  long  as  possi- 
ble. 

After  dinner  on  Sundays  Harriet 
and  her  Father  always  played  a  game 
that  was  great  fun.  First  they  took 
Mother  by  the  hand  and  led  her  into 
the  sitting-room.  They  made  her  sit 
down  in  a  big  easy  chair,  and  Harriet 
brought  a  cushion  for  Mother's  back, 
while  Father  found  the  book  Mother 
wished  to  read.  Then  they  said  to 
Mother:  — 

56 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 

"  Now  you  stay  here  and  have  a 
nice  rest.  We  are  going  to  do  the 
dishes." 

Then  the  play  began.  Harriet  was 
Mother  in  this  game,  and  Father 
was  Harriet's  Httle  daughter  Polly  !  It 
was  such  fun  to  make-believe  that  big 
tall  Father  was  a  little  bit  of  a  girl 
who  had  to  mind  just  what  Mother 
Harriet  said ! 

First  Harriet  tied  an  apron  on 
Father  — I  mean,  on  '^  Polly."  Then 
she  said  :  — 

"Now,  Polly,  if  you  are  a  good  little 
girl  and  help  me  clear  the  table  and 
wash  the  dishes,  I  know  where  there  is 
something  very  nice  that  Mrs.  Robert- 
son made  for  a  good  child." 

"  Oh,  I  '11  be  awful  good,"  said  Polly, 
in  a   little  squeaky  voice,  very  differ- 
ent from  Father's  big,  deep,  everyday    ' 
voice. 

^1 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

Then  Polly  began  to  work  so 
briskly  that  Mother  Harriet  said:  — 

"Take  care,  Polly!  You  '11  be  drop- 
ping the  dishes  and  smashing  them  if 
you  hurry  so." 

Then  Polly  worked  so  slowly  and 
made-believebe  so  anxious  and  solemn 
that  Harriet  giggled  at  Polly's  funny 
actions.  In  fact,  before  the  work  was 
done  and  the  game  was  over,  Harriet 
laughed  so  much  she  could  hardly 
stand. 

When  they  went  back  into  the  sit- 
ting-room she  said  to  Mother  :  — 

"Daddy's  a  very  jokish  man,  isn't 
he.  Mother?" 

"Indeed  he  is,"  said  Mother.  "I 
think  he's  only  half-grown  up,  in  spite 
of  his  size,  don't  you  ?  " 

Now  there  was  a  quiet  hour  while 
Harriet  played  with  her  dolls,  and 
Father  and   Mother  read  their  books. 

S8 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 

Then  there  was  a  Sunday  School  hour 
when  Father  told  Harriet  Bible  stories, 
about  Joseph  and  his  coat  of  many  col- 
ors, about  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den, 
about  the  little  shepherd  boy  who  slew 
the  big  giant,  and  best  of  all  about  the 
Baby  in  the  manger  on  the  first  Christ- 
mas Day. 

After  the  stories  there  was  music. 
Mother  played  beautifully  on  the  piano 
and  Father  had  a  fine  deep  voice.  Har- 
riet had  a  pretty  voice,  too,  so  they 
sang,  "Watchman,  tell  us  of  the  night," 
and  "  Now  the  day  is  over,"  and  others 
of  Harriet's  favorite  hymns. 

Then  Harriet  and  her  Father  took 
turns  choosing  what  Mother  was  to 
play  for  them.  First  Harriet  chose  the 
"  Spring  Song,"  because  it  made  her 
think  of  fairies  dancing  on  the  soft 
green  grass  of  early  spring.  Then 
Father  asked  for  the  "  Funeral  March," 

59 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

that  reminded  one  of  a  slow,  solemn 
procession  and  a  whole  nation  weep- 
ing for  the  loss  of  one  of  its  great  men. 
Then  Harriet  chose  "To  a  wild  rose," 
so  delicate,  so  sweet,  like  the  dainty 
flower  that  grows  along  country  roads 
in  June. 

After  the  music  it  was  supper-time. 
Sunday-night  supper  was  fun,  too. 
They  did  not  set  the  table  in  the  din- 
ing-room. They  went  into  the  kitchen 
and  had  a  picnic  supper.  Sometimes 
they  played  they  were  gypsies.  Some- 
times they  were  Indians.  Sometimes 
they  were  the  Pilgrims  just  landed  in 
America,  before  there  were  houses  to 
live  in.  They  always  toasted  bread 
with  the  toasting-fork,  but  they  made- 
believe  the  bread  was  bear  meat  or  deer 
meat  which  Father,  the  hunter,  had 
brought  home  from  the  woods.  And 
the  jam  was  wild  honey  which  they  had 

6i 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  SUNDAY 

found  stored  by  the  bees  in  a  hollow 
tree;  and  the  fruit  was  berries  picked 
from  bushes  near  their  camp. 

Oh,  how  good  everything  tasted 
with  all  these  make-believe  names ! 

Soon  after  supper  Harriet  was  quite 
sleepy  enough  to  go  to  bed.  But  first 
she  gave  Father  "bushels  of  kisses," 
because  she  said  it  would  be  so  long 
before  he  could  be  at  home  again  all 
day  to  do  nice,  jolly  things  for  Mother 
and  Harriet. 

And  almost  as  soon  as  her  head 
touched  her  pillow  the  sandman  came 
and  Harriet  was  sound  asleep. 

So  this  is  the  end  of  the  Third  Story 
about  Harriet  and  what  she  did  on 
Sunday. 


what  Harriet  did  on  Monday 


IV 

THIS  IS  THE  FOURTH  STORY  ABOUT  HARRIET 
IT   TELLS   WHAT    SHE    DID   ON    MONDAY 

When  Harriet  woke  on  Monday 
morning  she  did  not  see  any  gay  little 
sunbeam  dancing  across  her  crib.  In- 
stead, her  room  was  darkened  by  tiny 
streams  of  water  which  the  gray  rain 
clouds  were  pouring  down  upon  her 
window  panes. 

Harriet  hopped  out  of  bed  at  once 
and  ran  to   the  front  window,  saying 

6s 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

to  herself,  "I  wonder  if  Dicky  has  on 
his  new  raincoat  and  rubber  boots  this 
morning." 

Dicky  was  a  little  neighbor  who 
lived  across  the  street.  He  had  had 
his  fifth  birthday  on  the  very  day  that 
Harriet  was  four  years  old.  His  present 
had  been  a  rainy-day  suit.  There  were 
rubber  boots,  a  broad-brimmed  rub- 
ber hat,  and  a  rubber  coat.  So  Dicky 
loved  a  pouring  rain  when  he  could 
splash  through  the  rivers  in  the  gut- 
ters;  and  Harriet  loved  to  watch 
Dicky's  fun. 

This  morning  no  Dicky  was  in  sight. 
The  wet,  shiny  street  was  almost  empty 
except  for  the  baker's  cart  across  the 
way.  The  baker's  driver  was  just  com- 
ing out  of  the  basement  where  he  had 
been  leaving  warm  rolls  for  Dicky's 
breakfast,  and  when  the  driver  jumped 
into  his  seat  the  poor  wet  horse  started 

66 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 

up  as  it  he  were  in  a  hurry  to  get  home 
to  his  dry  stable. 

Then  Harriet  hurried  back  to  dress 
and  eat  her  breakfast  in  time  to  be  at 
the  window  when  the  children  would 
all  be  passing  on  their  way  to  school. 
It  was  fun  to  watch  the  umbrellas  bob- 
bing along  with  all  sorts  of  feet  walk- 
ing under  them.  Harriet  always  im- 
agined that  she  was  looking  down 
upon  lots  of  queer  little  wonderland 
creatures,  who  had  feet  and  legs,  but 
no  bodies,  and  whose  heads  were  um- 
brellas. 

After  a  while  all  the  children  were 
in  school,  and  all  the  grown  people 
were  in  their  trains  and  trolleys  or  in 
their  offices  beginning  the  day's  work, 
and  the  street  was  again  deserted. 

Harriet  pressed  her  face  against  the 
window  pane  hoping  to  see  something 
interesting.    But  it  was  n't  an  interest- 

67 


ABOUT  HARRIET 


ing  street.  It  was  not  at  all  like  the 
country,  where  one  sees  great  shady 
trees,  and  fields  of  daisies  and  butter- 
cups; where  birdies  sing  their  lovely 
songs  and  bushy-tailed  squirrels  frisk 
along  stone  walls ;  where  little  boys  and 
girls  have  brooks  to  wade  and  loads 
of  hay  to  ride  upon  and  big  barns  to 
play  in.  Harriet's  Father  had  lived  in 
country  like  that  when  he  was  a  boy. 

68 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 

And  Harriet's  Mother  had  lived  in  a 
little  city,  not  a  big  one.  In  that  little 
city  every  family  had  a  whole  house 
v^ith  an  upstairs  and  downstairs  and 
a  yard,  and  the  children  could  plant 
flowers  and  keep  chickens  and  rabbits 
in  their  yards,  and  eat  plums  and 
grapes  and  pears  from  their  own  trees 
and  vines. 

The  street  down  which  Harriet  was 
gazing  seemed  all  made  of  stone  and 
brick.  There  was  a  row  of  trees  along 
each  sidewalk,  but  the  trees  were  not 
as  high  as  the  houses;  and  there  were 
oh!  such  tiny  squares  of  grass  within 
the  iron  fences.  And  from  one  corner 
of  the  street  up  to  the  next  corner  it 
looked  as  if  there  were  two  long,  long, 
high  brick  walls,  trimmed  with  stone, 
and  in  each  of  these  brick  walls  there 
were  many,  many  windows,  and  near 
the    ground    were    many    doors   with 

69 


ABOUT  HARRIET 


short  flights  of  steps  leading  down  to 
the  sidewalks. 

Behind  those  brick  walls  lived  ever 
so  many  families.  Some  lived  on  the 
first  floor,  some  on  the  second  floor, 
some  on  the  third,  and  some  way  up 
on  the  fourth  floor.  Harriet  and  her 
Father  and  Mother  lived  on  the  sec- 
ond floor.  They  called  their  home  an 
"apartment"  or  "flat." 

Just  as  Harriet  was  turning  away 
from  the  window  she  heard  a  shrill 
whistle  out  in  the  kitchen.  She  knew 
what   that   meant.  James,  the  janitor 

70 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 


down  in  the  basement,  was  whistling 
for  the  rubbish  to  be  sent  down  on 
the  dumb  waiter.  Out  in  the  country 
people  burn  their  own  rubbish  or 
feed  some  of  the  table  leavings  to 
the  pigs  or  chickens.  But  in  the  city 
the  janitor  collects  the  waste  from 
each  apartment,  then  great  carts  come 
along  the  streets  and  carry  the  stuff 
away. 

The  dumb  waiter  is  Hke  a  big  box 
with  two  shelves  for  holding  things, 
and  it   travels   up   to   the  top   of  the 

71 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

house  or  down  to  the  basement  when 
the  janitor  pulls  a  rope. 

.  As  Harriet's  Mother  was  putting  a 
bundle  of  old  newspapers  upon  the 
dumb  waiter,  the  doorbell  rang  and 
another  sort  of  whistle  was  heard  down 
in  the  hall  at  the  street  door. 

"Oh,  there  's  the  postman,"  said 
Harriet.  "  May  I  go  down  to  get  the 
letters,  Mother?  " 

"You  can't  reach  the  mail  box, 
dear,"  said  Mother.  "  I  '11  be  ready  in 
a  minute." 

Again  the  bell  rang  and  the  post- 
man whistled  again,  so  Mother  said:  — 

"  Run  to  the  door,  honey.  Evi- 
dently the  postman  has  something 
that  will  not  go  into  the  box." 

So  Harriet  opened  the  door  of  the 
apartment  and  the  postman  called 
up:  — 

"  Package   for   Miss    Harriet    Rob- 
72 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON   MONDAY 


ertson.  Any  young  lady  of  that  name 
up  there  ?  " 

And  Harriet  went  down  the  stairs 
as  fast  as  her  short  legs  would  carry 
her,  for  this  was  the  nice  funny  post- 
man who  seemed  a  little  like  Santa 
Claus,  he  so  often  brought  parcels  for 
Harriet  in  his  bag. 

Down  in  the  vestibule  Miss  Doug- 
las had  just  taken  the  letters  out  ot 
her  mail  box  and  was  locking  the 
box  with  its  httle  key.  When  she  saw 
Harriet  she  said  :  — 


IZ 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

"Good  morning,  dear.  Don't  you 
think  a  rainy  day  like  this  is  a  good 
day  for  an  afternoon  tea-party?" 

'<Oh,  yes!"  said  Harriet  quickly, 
her  eyes  shining  with  delight  at  the 
thought. 

"Very  well.  Please  tell  your  Mother 
that  Auntie  Douglas  and  Miss  Sally 
would  be  much  pleased  if  Mrs.  Rob- 
ertson and  Miss  Robertson  would 
bring  their  sewing  down  to  the  Doug- 
las plantation  this  afternoon." 

Harriet  laughed.  Her  Father  al- 
ways called  the  little  apartment  in 
which  Auntie  Douglas  lived  "  the 
plantation  "  because  Auntie  Douglas 
and  Miss  Sally  and  Linda,  their  black 
servant,  had  lived  on  a  cotton  planta- 
tion way  down  South  years  ago. 

Now  Harriet  climbed  upstairs  hug- 
ging her  parcel  and  eager  to  tell 
Mother  of  Miss  Sally's  invitation. 

74 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 

It  was  very  exciting  to  cut  the 
strings  and  open  the  package.  Har- 
riet could  not  imagine  what  Grandma 
or  the  aunties  were  sending  this  time. 
When  all  the  papers  were  taken  off, 
there  was  a  new  sweater,  a  bright  red 
one,  with  a  pocket  on  each  side,  which 
Grandma's  dear  fingers  had  knitted 
for  Harriet. 

"Just  the  thing  for  Maine,"  said 
Mother,  as  Harriet  put  on  the  warm, 
gay  little  coat.  "  Your  old  sweater 
has  grown  quite  too  small.  We  will 
give  it  to  James's  little  girl." 

The  new  sweater  suggested  Har- 
riet's favorite  play,  which  was  "  Going 
to  Maine."  So  the  dining-room  chairs 
were  placed  in  a  row  to  make  a  train 
of  cars.  After  a  while  the  young  lady 
passenger  changed  from  the  cars  to 
the  steamboat,  which  was  the  big 
rocker;  next  she  changed  to  the  small 

7S 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

steamboat,  which  was  the  little  rocker; 
and  last  of  all  she  took  a  short  ride 
on  the  sailboat  "Merry  Wings,"  her 
own  tiny  rocker;  and  soon  she  jumped 
out  at  the  little  landing  in  front  of 
Uncle  Jack's  bungalow,  and  there  was 
Mrs.  Barrows  with  her  arms  wide 
open  to  hug  Harriet  and  the  red 
sweater  in  a  great  big  hug. 

Harriet's  plays  were  so  real  to  her 
that,  after  she  had  imagined  herself 
all  the  way  to  Maine,  and  then  found 
that  she  was  still  in  the  city  dining- 
room,  with  the  rain  beating  against 
the  window  and  keeping  her  indoors, 
she  flung  herself  across  her  Mother's 
lap  saying  dolefully  :  — 

"  Oh,  Mother,  I  'm  so  lonesome.  I 
wish  I  had  a  little  brother  to  play 
with  me  on  rainy  days." 

"  I  wish  you  had,  my  darling," 
said    Mother   sadly;    "on   rainy    days 

76 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 

and  sunny  days  and  all  the  days,  al- 
ways." 

Mother  was  thinking  about  the 
baby  boy  who  had  gone  to  Heaven 
before  Harriet  came  to  Father  and 
Mother.  Harriet  often  looked  at  the 
baby's  laughing  picture  on  Mother's 
bureau  and  found  it  hard  to  think 
that  this  baby  was  her  older  brother, 
older  than  Dicky  across  the  street. 

She  lay  in  Mother's  arms  and  rocked 
for  a  while,  until  Mother  said:  — 

"  I  must  telephone  to  Mr.O'Rourke, 
dearie,  and  ask  him  when  he  is  going 
to  send  over  our  potatoes  and  string 
beans  for  dinner." 

So  Harriet  slipped  down  from  her 
Mother's  lap  and  went  to  the  book- 
case. There  were  books  everywhere 
in  her  house,  but  Harriet  kept  most 
of  her  favorites  on  the  lowest  shelf  in 
the  dining-room  bookcase.    It  did  not 

11 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

take  her  long  to  choose  the  picture 
books  she  wanted  to  show  once  more 
to  Florella  May. 

First  there  was  the  "  Dutchie  Do- 
ings" picture  book  that  told  all  about 
Jan  and  Mina  of  Holland  and  their 
little  city  cousin.  Next  there  was 
"The  Four  and  Twenty  Toilers," 
that  showed  how  the  cobbler  and  the 
shipbuilder  and  the  farmer  and  the 
miller  and  twenty  other  workers  did 
their  work.  Then  there  was  the  Ger- 
man picture  book  called  "Hausmlit- 
terchen,"  whose  name,  Harriet  knew, 
meant  "The  Little  House  Mother." 

Harriet  took  the  books  to  the  long 
cushioned  seat  in  the  bay  window. 
Then  she  brought  Florella  May.  Then 
the  little  girl  mother  and  her  dolly 
daughter  lay  flat  on  their  "  tummies," 
kicking  their  heels  in  the  air,  with 
the  Dutch  picture  book  spread  open 

78 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 

before  them  on  the  broad  window 
seat. 

What  fun  it  was  to  make-believe 
be  the  little  city  cousin  visiting  Jan 
and  Mina  on  the  farm !  How  Har- 
riet enjoyed  seeing  the  pigs  and  the 
chickens  and  the  cows !  How  scared 
she  was  by  the  old  turkey  gobbler, 
and  by  the  donkey  that  tried  to  kick 
Jan  oiF  his  back!  And  how  surprised 
she  was  when  Jan  fell  off  the  pier  and 
had  to  be  fished  out  of  the  water.  She 
felt  as  if  she  had  been  to  little  Hol- 
land and  had  seen  the  windmills  and 
the  canals  and  the  dogs  drawing  the 
milk  carts  and  the  people's  clattering 
wooden  shoes.  Some  day,  Father  said, 
they  would  all  go  to  see  the  real  Hol- 
land. 

And  Harriet  wanted  to  go  to  Eng- 
land too,where"The  FourandTwenty 
Toilers "  lived.   She  liked  the  nice  gar- 

79 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

dener  who  gave  the  little  boy  a  ride 
on  the  pony  that  drew  the  big  lawn 
mower;  the  bird  man  with  his  shop 
full  of  all  sorts  of  queer  birds ;  the 
verger  of  the  old  stone  church  who 
let  the  children  climb  the  narrow, 
crooked  stairs  to  the  top  of  the  tower 
to  see  him  wind  the  great  clock. 

It  always  took  a  long  time  to  look 
at  "  The  Four  and  Twenty  Toilers," 
because  Harriet  had  to  imagine  her- 
self so  many  diiFerent  people  before 
she  finished  it. 

There  was  n't  much  time  left  for 
"  Hausmiitterchen  "  because  Mother 
said  lunch  would  be  ready  in  a  very 
few  minutes  and  Harriet  must  get 
washed  and  tidied  up  before  coming 
to  the  table.  Harriet  was  sorry  be- 
cause she  and  her  Mother  often  played 
they  were  the  German  mother  and 
daughter    when    Harriet    learned    to 

80 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 

cook  and  wash   and   iron   and   sweep 
just  as  the  little  girl  did  in  the  pictures. 

After  lunch  Harriet  had  a  nap. 
When  she  woke  up  she  and  Mother 
got  ready  to  go  downstairs  to  see 
Auntie  Douglas  and  Miss  Sally. 

How  glad  the  ladies  were  to  see 
their  little  neighbor!  Auntie  Douglas 
was  an  invalid  and  seldom  got  out 
of  doors.  She  was  a  very  happy  in- 
valid, though,  and  all  the  children 
loved  her.  She  could  tell  the  "  Uncle 
Remus"  stories  almost  as  well  as  old 
Uncle  Remus  himself.  Miss  Sally,  too, 
knew  just  what  little  girls  liked,  and 
so  did  Linda,  the  cook ! 

As  soon  as  Harriet  had  pretended 
to  take  off  her  rubbers  and  raincoat, 
—  you  know  she  really  had  not  been 
out  of  doors  at  all  in  coming  down 
to  Auntie  Douglas's  apartment,  — 
Miss  Sally  said  :  — 

8i 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 

"What  would  you  like  to  do  first, 
dearie  ? " 

"  I  'd  like  to  look  at  the  treasure 
drawer,"  answered  Harriet  promptly. 

"  Very  well,  you  may,"  said  Miss 
Sally.  "  You  are  such  a  careful  little 
girl  nothing  is  ever  disturbed  by  your 
fingers." 

The  treasure  drawer  was  in  a  beau- 
tiful old  mahogany  secretary.  It  was 
filled  with  little  boxes,  and  each  little 
box  contained  something  interesting 
to  look  at.  There  was  a  wee,  tiny  book 
carved  out  of  a  bone  by  a  sailor  who 
gave  it  to  Miss  Sally  when  she  was  a 
little  girl.  There  was  the  nest  of  a 
trap-door  spider  with  its  wonderful 
hinge  working  so  smoothly  and  its 
door  fitting  so  perfectly.  Miss  Sally's 
uncle  had  brought  it  from  California 
years  before.  There  was  a  sandalwood 
box  that  smelled  so  sweet  even  though 

83 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

it  was  a  long,  long  time  since  Auntie 
Douglas's  brother  had  brought  it  from 
India.  There  were  lovely  beads  from 
Venice  and  a  necklace  of  beautiful 
tiny  shells  from  Tasmania.  There  was 
a  little  ivory  elephant;  and  a  bear 
made  by  a  wood-carver  who  lived  away 
up  in  the  Tyrolese  Mountains.  Harriet 
was  delighted  when  her  Aunt  Helen 
found  her  the  story  of  "Donkey  John 
of  the  Toy  Valley,"  because  she  was 
sure  the  bear  must  have  been  carved 
by  one  of  John's  neighbors,  in  the  high 
valley  where  everybody  helped  make 
toys  to  send  to  little  children  all  over 
the  world. 

There  is  not  time  to  tell  you  all 
the  good  things  about  that  visit  in 
Auntie  Douglas's  apartment.  Harriet 
enjoyed  visiting  the  kitchen,  too,  and 
helping  Linda  get  the  tea  and  cakes 
ready.   And  though  it  was  such  a  rainy 

84 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  MONDAY 


afternoon  it  had  seemed  a  very  short 
and  sunny  one  when  Harriet  and  her 
Mother  thanked  their  hostesses  and 
said  good-bye  to  them. 

After  dinner  Father  said,  "  Don't 
you  think  it's  cold  and  damp  enough 
for  a  fire,  Mumsey  dear?" 

And  Mother  said,  "Of  course  it  is! 
85 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

Anything  for  an  excuse  to  have  an 
open  fire  !  " 

So  Father  laid  the  paper  and  the 
kindlings  and  Harriet  Hghted  the  fire 
on  the  hearth,  and  when  the  blaze  was 
bright  they  put  on  more  wood.  Then 
they  all  sat  before  the  little  fire  and 
talked  about  how  nice  it  would  be 
when  they  got  to  Maine  and  had  a 
great  roaring  fire  in  their  bungalow 
fireplace,  which  was  ever  and  ever  so 
much  bigger  than  the  tiny  fireplace 
in  their  little  apartment. 

And  before  long  the  fire,  or  some- 
thing, made  Harriet  very  sleepy.  So 
she  undressed  and  climbed  into  her 
little  white  crib  and  in  three  winks 
she  was  far,  far  away  in  Dreamland. 

So  that  is  the  end  of  the  Fourth 
Story  about  Harriet  and  what  she  did 
on  Monday. 

86 


what  Harriet  did  on  Tuesday 


V 

THIS    IS  THE    FIFTH    STORY  ABOUT  HARRIET 
IT   TELLS   WHAT   SHE    DID    ON    TUESDAY 

When  Harriet  woke  on  Tuesday 
morning  it  was  not  raining  any  more. 
As  soon  as  she  saw  the  bright  sun- 
shine she  hopped  joyfully  out  of  bed 
and  called  to  her  mother:  — 

''We  shan't  have  to  stay  in  the 
house  all  day  to-day,  shall  we,  Mum- 
sey  r 

89 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

"  No,  indeed,"  said  Mother;  "and 
that  is  very  fortunate,  for  you  and  I 
have  ever  so  many  errands  to  do  this 
morning." 

So,  as  soon  as  breakfast  was  over, 
the  dishes  washed  and  the  beds  made, 
the  postman  and  the  janitor  and  the 
iceman  and  the  milkman  attended  to, 
Harriet  and  her  Mother  started  out 
on  their  errands.  Harriet  carried  her 
beautiful  pink  sunshade  which  Aunt 
Grace  had  given  her.  Mother  carried 
her  shopping-bag  in  one  hand  and 
that  left  her  other  hand  free  to  hold 
Harriet's  when  they  crossed  the  streets 
where  automobiles  and  grocers'  and 
butchers'  wagons  went  whizzing  by. 

It  was  not  a  long  walk  to  the  street 
where  the  shops  were.  The  errands 
this  morning  were  not  downtown  er- 
rands to  the  great,  huge  department 
stores.    Harriet's  Mother  wanted  gro- 

90 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  TUESDAY 


ceries  and  meat  and  fruit,  not  dresses 
and  coats  and  shoes  and  furniture. 
There  was  a  long  avenue  which  had 
a  row  of  all  sorts  of  small  shops  down 
each  side  of  it,  and  a  trolley  ran  through 
the  middle  of  the  avenue. 

Mother  and  Harriet  stopped  first 
at  Mr.  O'Rourke's  grocery  store.  As 
soon  as  they  went  into  the  door,  one 
of  the  clerks  named  Jans  Jorgensen 
came  forward  to  wait  upon  them. 
Jans  had  very  light  hair  and  bright 
red  cheeks.  Harriet  liked  him  very 
much,   and   he    thought    Harriet   was 

91 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

the  nicest  little  girl  who  came  into 
the  store. 

Mother  ordered  of  Jans  a  dozen  of 
the  freshest  eggs,  two  pounds  of  Mr. 
O'Rourke's  best  butter,  a  pound  of 
seedless  raisins,  and  three  and  a  half 
pounds  of  sugar.  She  told  Jans  not  to 
have  the  things  sent  over  to  her  house 
until  noon,  because  she  did  not  ex- 
pect to  get  home  until  then.  As  they 
started  to  go  away,  Jans  went  to  a 
basket  and  chose  the  largest  and  pret- 
tiest peach  he  could  find  to  give  to 
Harriet.  Harriet  thanked  him  very 
prettily,  and  Jans  smiled  a  broad  smile 
to  see  his  little  friend  so  delighted. 

Next  Harriet  and  her  Mother 
stopped  at  Mr.  Schlachter's  meat  mar- 
ket. Mr.  Schlachter  was  a  great,  big 
man,  tall  and  broad  and  fat.  When 
Harriet  first  saw  him  she  was  a  very 
little   girl    and    he   gave    her   a  great 

92 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  TUESDAY 

fright,  though  of  course  he  did  not 
mean  to  do  so.  Mr.  Schlachter  had 
stood  behind  his  counter,  with  a  great 
sharp  knife  in  one  hand  and  the  long 
knife-sharpener  in  the  other,  and  he 
looked  so  big  and  his  face  was  so  red 
that  Harriet  thought  he  was  the  ogre 
whose  picture  was  in  her  Jack-and- 
the-Beanstalk  story.  She  screamed 
with  fright  and  hid  her  face  in  her 
Mother's  skirts  so  that  Mother  did 
not  buy  any  meat  that  day,  but  she 
took  Harriet  home  at  once.  Then 
Mother  explained  that  Mr.  Schlachter 
was  a  good,  kind  man,  with  little  girls 
of  his  own  who  loved  him,  and  that 
there  were  n't  really  any  ogres  except 
in  story  books.  So  now  Harriet  was 
not  afraid  of  Mr.  Schlachter,  but  she 
did  not  like  him  as  well  as  Jans. 

Perhaps  she  would  have  liked  him 
better  if  she  had  had  a  little  dog  or  a 

93 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

cat  at  home,  because  Mr.  Schlachter 
was  very  generous  about  feeding  ani- 
mals. Not  far  from  his  shop  there  was 
a  big  stable  where  lived  two  spotted 
coach  dogs, — just  like  Peter  Spots  in 
the  book  about  "Fighting  a  Fire,"  — 
and  these  dogs  thought  Mr.  Schlachter 
was  the  best  kind  of  a  friend.  Harriet 
often  saw  the  dogs  and  patted  them 
when  she  went  to  the  meat  market. 

Harriet's  Mother  ordered  a  chicken 
and  she  told  Mr.  Schlachter  also  not 
to  send  it  till  noon.  Then  they  walked 
on  to  the  fruit  store. 

The  fruit  store  belonged  to  a  dark- 
haired  man  who  had  come  far  across 
the  great  ocean  and  a  great  sea  from 
the  brave  little  country  of  Greece.  In 
fact,  most  of  the  people  who  sold 
things  along  the  avenue  had  come 
from  far-away  countries.  Father  and 
Mother  always  had  a  story  for  every- 

94 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  TUESDAY 

thing,  and  Harriet  had  heard  many 
an  old  wonder  tale  that  the  fathers 
and  mothers  of  Mr.  Sorakes's  country 
told  to  their  little  children.  Perhaps 
the  reason  why  the  shopkeepers  liked 
to  wait  upon  Harriet's  Mother  was 
because  she  was  interested  in  their 
countries  and  talked  to  them  about 
their  far-away  homes. 

Mr.  Sorakes's  window  always  looked 
as  pretty  as  a  flower  garden.  He 
knew  just  how  to  arrange  his  dark- 
red  cherries  and  pale-yellow  lemons, 
his  rosy-cheeked  apples  and  huge 
bunches  of  California  grapes,  his  boxes 
of  dates  and  figs,  his  many-colored 
jars  of  jelly,  his  walnuts  and  almonds 
and  berries,  and  —  oh !  more  deli- 
cious things  than  Harriet  could  ever 
count.  She  always  stayed  outside  the 
shop  while  Mother  went  inside  and 
she  gazed  into  the  great  glass  window 

95 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

enjoying  the  colors  and  trying  to  name 
the  different  kinds  of  things,  but  there 
was  always   some  new  name  to  learn. 

Mother  ordered  a  box  of  straw- 
berries and  a  dozen  of  lemons  from 
Mr.  Sorakes,  and  then  they  went  on 
to  their  next  stopping-place. 

This  was  not  a  shop  for  selling 
things  to  eat.  It  was  a  tiny  little  place 
where  an  Italian  cobbler  mended  shoes. 
Mother  had  left  a  pair  of  her  shoes 
here  a  few  days  before  for  Mr.  Sarra- 
chino  to  put  new  soles  and  heels  upon 
them.  Mr.  Sarrachino  gave  Harriet  a 
bright  smile  and  he  bowed  low  to 
Harriet's  Mother.  He  was  always  a 
very  polite  and  cheerful  man.  He 
had  a  whole  row  of  dark-eyed  little 
boys  and  girls  of  his  own  who  lived 
in  the  rooms  back  of  his  shop.  He 
worked  hard  at  his  bench  from  early 
morning    till    late   at    night,    because 

96 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  TUESDAY 

there  were  so  many  hungry  mouths  to 
feed,  but  you  never  saw  him  cross  or 
surly.  He  was  so  proud  to  have  his 
boys  and  girls  go  to  the  fine  public 
schools  and  learn  to  be  good  Ameri- 
cans that  he  did  not  care  how  hard 
he  worked  to  feed  and  clothe  them. 
Harriet's  Mother  gave  most  of  Har- 
riet's outgrown  clothes  to  the  Sarra- 
chino  babies,  and  at  Christmas  time 
Harriet  always  filled  a  big  stocking 
full  of  toys  and  goodies  for  the  family. 
When  they  had  inquired  about  the 
latest  baby,  Mrs.  Sarrachino  was  called 
from  the  back  room  to  show  the  little 
fellow.  She  came  in  smiling,  with  lit- 
tle Giuseppe  in  her  arms,  and  Har- 
riet's Mother  praised  the  baby's  mother 
for  keeping  her  baby  so  clean.  It  was 
hard  work  to  care  for  so  many  chil- 
dren, but  Mrs.  Sarrachino  was  quick 
to    learn,  and    the   school    nurse   had 

97 


ABOUT  HARRIET 


told  her  how  important  it  was  to  keep 
house  and  children  clean  and  to  feed 
the  children  properly;  and  their  teach- 
ers said  that  the  bright-eyed  little  Sar- 
rachinos  were  the  cleanest  little  Italians 
in  the  whole  school. 

After  bidding  good-bye  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.,  Sarrachino,  who  stood  bowing 
and  smiling  till  they  had  left  the  shop, 
Harriet  and  her  Mother  walked  along 
the  avenue  quite  a  distance  before  they 
came  to  Mother's  next  errand   place. 

98 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  TUESDAY 

They  stopped  and  looked  into  many 
of  the  windows  on  the  way.  The 
florists'  windows  were  lovely,  but  not 
so  fine  as  they  were  in  winter,  because 
in  June  many  people  have  flowers  in 
their  own  gardens,  and  in  the  winter 
ladies  go  to  more  balls  and  to  the 
opera  and  they  give  dinner-parties,  so 
in  winter  the  florists  sell  more  flowers. 
Harriet  always  liked  the  bakeshop 
windows,  but  Mother  seldom  bought 
anything  from  a  bakery.  She  knew  it 
was  better  for  little  girls  and  school- 
teacher fathers  to  eat  home  cooking, 
and  Mother  was  a  fine  cook.  This 
morning  Harriet  could  hardly  tear 
herself  away  from  the  bakery  window, 
because  there  was  a  huge  wedding 
cake  in  the  middle  of  it,  and  on  top 
of  the  white  frosted  cake  was  a  wed- 
ding party  !  There  was  the  tiny  bride- 
groom in  a  black  coat,  and  there  was 

99 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

the  bride  with  her  long  white  veil,  and 
there  was  a  candy  wedding  bell  hung 
above  the  bride  and  groom,  and  the 
cake  was  gay  with  pink-and-white 
candy  flowers.  Oh,  it  was  a  beautiful 
sight !  Harriet  decided  at  once  to 
have  a  doll  wedding  some  day  at 
home. 

There  were  delicatessen  shops,  too, 
on  the  avenue,*  which  Harriet  liked. 
You  could  buy  a  whole  cooked  meal 
in  one  of  these  shops  —  a  pot  of  baked 
beans,  or  a  roast  of  beef,  slices  of  cold 
ham,  potato  salad  and  other  kinds  of 
salad,  bread  and  butter  and  pie  and 
pickles  and  cheese  and  doughnuts. 
The  windows  made  a  person  hungry 
just  to  look  at  them,  but  Mother 
hardly  ever  bought  anything  here, 
either,  except  cream  cheese. 

Next  they  passed  a  cleaner's  win- 
dow.  That  means  a  place  where  peo- 

lOO 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

pie  take  the  kind  of  waists  and  dresses 
and  skirts  that  cannot  be  washed  in  a 
tub  of  water,  but  which  the  cleaner 
can  make  look  almost  as  good  as  new 
by  some  other  ways  of  cleaning  than 
using  soap  and  water.  Even  feathers 
and  gloves  and  satin  slippers  are  made 
to  look  fresh  and  new  by  these  won- 
derful people. 

Harriet  did  not  usually  care  to  look 
into  the  cleaner's  window,  because 
grown  people's  clothes  aren't  very  in- 
teresting, but  to-day  she  caught  sight 
of  something  that  made  her  stop  her 
Mother  and  cry  out:  — 

"  Oh,  Mother,  see !  There 's  a 
Mother  Goose  dressing-gown  almost 
like  the  one  Grandma  made  for  me 
when  I  was  a  little  girl !  " 

Sure  enough,  there  was  a  little  blue 
kimono  hanging  in  the  window,  and 
on  its  collar  and  sleeves  and  down  the 

I02 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  TUESDAY 

front  and  around  the  hem  of  it  were 
lots  of  Mother  Goose  children  —  Lit- 
tle Boy  Blue  with  his  horn,  Miss  Muf- 
fett  and  her  spider,  Simple  Simon,  Jack 
and  Jill,  and  the  rest. 

Harriet  was  delighted,  but  her 
Mother  laughed  and  said  :  — 

"  Do  you  remember  how  you  cried 
the  first  night  you  saw  your  kimono 
because  Boy  Blue's  head  was  cut  off? 
Grandma  had  not  noticed,  when  she 
turned  the  hem,  what  happened  to 
Boy  Blue's  head,  so  I  had  to  rip  the 
hem  and  restore  his  head  before 
you  would  wear  the  pretty  dressing- 
gown." 

"  Yes,  I  remember,"  said  Harriet, 
and  she  laughed  a  little,  but  then  she 
looked  sober.  Even  thpugh  she  was 
now  so  big  she  did  not  like  to  think 
of  a  picture  Boy  Blue  without  a  head; 
and  she  looked  very  carefully  at  the 

103 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

dressing-gown  in  the  window  and  was 
glad  to  see  that  all  the  children  on  it 
were  quite  whole. 

Next  Mother  stopped  at  Mr.  Levy's, 
the  tailor's,  to  ask  him  to  send  for  a 
suit  of  Father's  that  needed  to  be 
mended  and  pressed.  Mr.  Levy  made 
new  suits  and  coats  and  skirts,  and 
he  could  also  mend  and  smooth  out 
wrinkled  clothes  till  they  looked  al- 
most like  new  ones. 

There  were  only  two  more  errands 
to  do.  One  was  at  the  branch  post- 
office  in  the  drug  store,  where  Mother 
bought  stamps  and  postal  cards.  Har- 
riet wanted  some  ice  cream  from  the 
soda  fountain  part  of  the  drug  store, 
but  Mother  said  No,  not  in  the  morn- 
ing and  so  near  lunch-time. 

Last  of  all  they  went  to  a  little 
shop  where  the  woman  sold  all  sorts 
of  materials  for  doing  pretty  needle- 

104 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  TUESDAY 

work.  There  were  embroidery  silks 
and  needles  and  scissors;  there  were 
embroidery  patterns  to  stamp  on  towels 
and  napkins  and  tablecloths,  on  little 
girls'  white  dresses  and  ladies'  pretty 
waists;  there  were  knitting-needles  and 
worsted  for  making  sweaters  and  scarfs 
and  bedroom  slippers;  and  there  were 
lots  of  other  things.  During  the  win- 
ters in  the  city  Mother  was  too  busy 
for  fancy  work,  but  there  were  long 
days  in  Maine  when  she  had  plenty 
of  time  to  knit  as  well  as  to  go  pic- 
nicking and  sailing  and  swimming; 
so  that  this  morning  Mother  bought 
materials  for  making  a  white-and-blue 
porch  jacket  for  Aunt  Maud. 

At  last  all  the  errands  were  done 
and  Mother  and  Harriet  went  home. 
After  lunch  Harriet  was  so  tired  that 
she  took  quite  a  long  nap.  Then  they 
sat   on  a   Parkway  bench   once  more 

105 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

until  it  was  time  lor  Father,  and  din- 
ner, and  then  for  story-telling. 

Harriet's  visit  to  Mr.  Sarrachino's 
shop  made  her  think  of  the  story  of 
a  little  Italian  marionette  named 
"  Pinocchio,"  so,  although  Father  had 
read  it  to  her  many,  many  times,  she 
called  for  it  again,  and  once  more 
she  and  Father  laughed  and  laughed 
about  the  bad  little  wooden  boy  who, 
after  many  funny  adventures,  decided 
to  be  good  and  was  then  changed 
into  a  really,  truly,  live  boy. 

And  after  hugs  and  kisses  and  good- 
night prayers,  Harriet  sailed  off  to 
Dreamland  again. 

So  that  is  the  end  of  the  Fifth 
Story  about  Harriet  and  what  she  did 
on  Tuesday. 


what  Harriet  did  on  Wednesday 


VI 

THIS    IS   THE   SIXTH    STORY  ABOUT  HARRIET 
IT   TELLS   WHAT   SHE    DID    ON   WEDNESDAY 

Almost  before  her  eyes  were  open 
on  Wednesday  morning  Harriet  called 
out :  — 

"  What  are  we  going  to  do  to-day, 
Mother  dear?  " 

And  Mother  answered:  — 

'^Wait  until  you've  eaten  your 
breakfast,  honey,  and  then  we'll  see." 

109 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

Harriet  jumped  out  of  bed  very 
quickly  at  that.  She  suspected  that 
something  nice  was  going  to  happen 
if  she  ate  a  good,  hearty  breakfast. 
You  see,  Harriet  was  not  often  a 
hungry  little  girl,  and  when  she  knew 
that  there  was  to  be  a  picnic  or  some- 
thing else  very  gay  she  was  too  ex- 
cited to  eat  at  all.  So  Mother  did  not 
usually  tell  of  any  exciting  plan  until 
after  breakfast. 

This  morning  Harriet  resolved  to 
eat  —  oh,  ever  so  much,  so  that  Mother 
would  decide  it  was  safe  to  do  the 
nice  thing  that  she  probably  had  in 
her  mind.  So  Harriet  ate  and  ate  till 
Father  joked  her  and  poked  her  and 
said  he  thought  she  would  taste  as 
good,  roasted,  as  a  fat  little  stuffed 
pig.  And  finally,  as  Harriet  kept  eat- 
ing and  eating,  her  Mother  laughed 
and  said :  — 

I  lO 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

"  There,  there,  dear !  You 've  eaten 
enough  to  last  until  noon  !  What  do 
you  say  to  going  downtown  this  morn- 
ing, shopping,  and  eating  our  lunch  in 
Lerner's  restaurant?" 

''  Oh,  goody,  goody  !  "  shrieked 
Harriet. 

So  Mother  knew  that  that  meant 
Harriet  liked  the  plan  very  much. 

It  did  not  take  Mother  and  Har- 
riet long  after  breakfast  to  get  ready. 
They  liked  to  start  early  when  they 
were  going  shopping,  so  as  to  be  in 
the  stores  before  crowds  of  people 
came  and  made  it  hot  and  uncom- 
fortable while  they  did  their  errands. 

Harriet  did  not  carry  her  pink  sun- 
shade to-day.  Mother  said  it  would 
be  in  the  way  downtown,  where  there 
were  high  stairs  to  climb  and  a  great 
many  people  on  the  streets  to  jostle 
against  them. 

1 1 1 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

After  a  short  walk  down  one  street 
and  over  another,  they  came  to  the 
Elevated  Railroad  station.  In  Har- 
riet's city  the  streets  are  so  full  of 
wagons  and  trolleys  and  motor-cars, 
and  there  are  so  many,  many  people 
who  must  travel  long  distances  from 
their  homes  every  day  to  get  to  their 
offices  and  stores  and  schools,  that  the 
men  who  make  the  railroads  have  to 
build  some  of  them  up  in  the  air  and 
some  of  them  down  under  the  ground ! 
Just  think  of  that !  Under  the  ground 
they  dig  a  long,  long  tunnel  and  lay 
the  tracks  through  the  tunnel,  and 
the  trains  go  swiftly  back  and  forth 
in  this  long  hole  in  the  ground;  and 
when  little  boys  and  girls  ride  in  these 
underground  cars  and  look  out  of  the 
windows  they  can't  see  anything  ex- 
cept the  sides  of  the  tunnel  and  the 
lights  flashing  by  —  no  shops  or  horses 

I  12 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

or  people  or  trees  or  anything.  The 
railroad  under  the  ground  is  called 
the  "  Subway." 

There  is  another  kind  of  railroad 
made  of  tracks  and  trains  high  up  on 
great  strong  bridges  miles  and  miles 
long  through  the  streets.  This  is  called 
the  "Elevated Railroad."  People  often 
call  it  the  "L."  Harriet  and  her 
Mother  were  going  downtown  on  the 
"  L." 

First  they  had  to  climb  a  long  flight 
of  stairs.  This  was  slow  work  for  Har- 
riet's short  legs.  When  they  got  to 
the  top  they  stopped  a  minute  to  get 
their  breath  again.  Then  Mother  paid 
the  fare  through  a  little  opening  in  a 
window  where  a  woman  or  a  man  sits 
all  day  and  all  night  to  collect  fares. 
Then  the  woman  unlocked  the  turn- 
stile and  Mother  passed  through  it, 
but  Harriet  walked   under  a  rail,  be- 

113 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

cause  she  was  so  little  Mother  did  not 
have  to  pay  a  fare  for  her. 

Now  they  were  out  on  the  long 
platform  and  soon  the  train  came 
rushing  in  and  they  got  aboard.  As 
soon  as  all  the  passengers  were  in  the 
cars,  the  guards  on  the  platforms  at 
the  ends  of  each  car  slammed  the 
gates,  to  shut  the  people  in;  then  one 
guard  after  another  reached  up  and 
pulled  a  rope  which  rang  a  bell  to 
tell  the  motorman,  "All  right!  Go 
ahead  !  "    Then  the  train  started. 

Harriet  climbed  up  on  the  seat  and 
kneeled  with  her  face  toward  the 
window  so  as  to  see  everything  they 
passed  as  they  flew  along.  It  was  such 
fun  to  be  up  so  high  that  you  could 
look  into  third-story  windows  of  peo- 
ple's houses  or  stores.  Sometimes  there 
were  little  children  looking  out  of 
those  high  windows.   Sometimes  Har- 

114 


AT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

riet  looked  into  a  big  room  filled  with 
men  bent  over  sewing  machines  mak- 
ing coats  and  trousers.  Sometimes  she 
saw  a  room  filled  with  girls  at  desks, 
typewriting  as  fast  as  they  could  make 
their  fingers  fly.  Once  Harriet  caught 
a  glimpse  down  a  side  street  of  a  roof 
which  some  little  children's  father  had 
made  into  a  nice  outdoor  playroom. 
The  roof  had  a  fence  around  it,  so 
the  babies  could  not  fall  off,  and  there 
was  an  awning  over  the  top,  so  it  would 
not  be  too  hot;  and  the  children  had 
their  toys  out  there,  and  plants  grow- 
ing in  boxes,  and  it  was  really  a  lovely 
play  place  for  little  city  children,  but 
of  course  not  half  as  nice  as  the 
country. 

Presently  the  guard  called  out,  "  El- 
lum  and  Button!"  (He  meant  Elm 
and  Dutton  Streets,  but  the  guards 
always   said  "  Ellum."^     This  was  the 

115 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

station  near  the  large  stores,  so  when 
the  train  stopped  and  the  guard  opened 
the  gates,  Harriet  and  her  Mother 
stepped  out  upon  the  platform.  They 
walked  very  slowly  down  the  long 
stairs  and  then  they  waited  at  the 
curb  for  a  chance  to  cross  the 
street. 

It  was  a  very  busy  street  and  a  very 
noisy  one  at  this  corner.  Overhead 
the  Elevated  trains  every  few  minutes 
made  a  great  noise.  In  the  middle  of 
the  road  the  trolley  cars  ran  so  close 
together  that  there  was  a  continuous 
"Clang!  Clang!  Clang!"  of  the  mo- 
tormen's  gongs.  There  was  a  steady 
stream  of  heavy  wagons  and  automo- 
biles rumbling  and  whizzing  by.  There 
were  people  crowding  down  into  the 
Subway.  No  wonder  there  had  to  be 
a  mounted  police  at  the  corner  to 
keep  the  wagons   and  cars  from  get- 

ii6 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

ting  all  snarled  up  and  the  people 
from  getting  run  over. 

Harriet  loved  the  mounted  police. 
Their  horses  were  so  beautiful  and  so 
intelligent.  The  officers  were  so  big 
and  handsome,  their  uniforms  so  splen- 
did, and  they  sat  so  straight  upon  their 
horses.  They  stood  in  the  midst  of  the 
roar  and  the  rush  and  with  one  lift  of 
the  hand  they  made  all  the  drivers  and 
motormen  stop  their  cars  instantly  to 
let  a  little  girl  and  her  Mother  pass  in 
safety  across  the  street.  When  Har- 
riet's fairy  tales  told  about  a  mighty 
king  or  emperor  whose  slightest  wish 
was  instantly  obeyed  by  his  subjects, 
she  always  thought  of  her  beloved 
mounted  police. 

When  Harriet  and  Mother  had 
safely  reached  the  other  side  of  the 
street,  they  found  themselves  almost 
at  the  big  front  door  of  Lerner's  store 

117 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

where  Mother  always  did  most  of  her 
shopping. 

This  morning  they  went  first  into 
the  shoe  department.  They  sat  down 
on  the  sHppery  leather  seat  and 
Mother  bought  for  herself  a  pair  of 
low  shoes  having  rubber  soles  and 
heels.  This  is  the  best  kind  of  shoe 
to  wear  if  you  are  going  to  climb 
over  slippery  rocks  in  Maine.  Har- 
riet had  to  have  a  pair  of  "sneakers" 
too. 

Then  they  went  down  to  the  base- 
ment of  the  store.  This  was  an  im- 
mense place.  You  could  buy  trunks, 
toys,  kitchenware,  bathroom  supplies, 
tools,  lamps,  china,  dishes  —  it  would 
fill  a  book  to  tell  all  the  things  in  Ler- 
ner's  basement. 

Mother  was  buying  supplies  this 
morning  for  the  bungalow:  paper  tow- 
els and  napkins,  wooden  plates  for  pic- 

ii8 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

nics,  cooking  dishes  for  the  kitchen, 
and  many  other  things. 

All  these  suppHes,  with  what  Mother 
would  buy  in  other  departments, would 
be  sent  by  Lerner's  shipping  depart- 
ment up  to  a  little  town  in  Maine 
where  Captain  Barber's  steamboat 
would  get  the  supplies  and  carry  them 
over  to  the  bungalow. 

When  Mother  had  finished  shop- 
ping in  the  basement  they  started  to 
go  upstairs. 

"Oh,  Mother!"  said  Harriet, "please 
let's  ride  up  on  the  revolving  stairs." 

So  they  went  to  the  place  where  one 
could  step  on  to  what  looked  some- 
thing like  a  narrow  chain  sidewalk, 
which  did  not  stay  still,  but  which  was 
moving  uphill  all  the  time.  And  when 
you  stepped  on  this  sidewalk,  you  did 
not  have  to  climb  at  all;  you  stood 
still  and  the  walk  itself  climbed.   When 

119 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

you  got  up  to  the  main  floor  you 
stepped  off^  the  funny  stair,  and  there 
you  were.  Harrietlovedit.  Her  Mother 
would  not  let  her  ride  down  on  this 
revolving  stair,  for  fear  she  might  get 
dizzy  and  fall. 

Next  Mother  and  Harriet  got  into 
the  big  elevator  and  rode  up  to  the 
fourth  floor  to  the  furniture  depart- 
ment. Mother  wanted  to  buy  two  big, 
comfortable  willow  chairs  for  the  bun- 
galow living-room.  While  Mother  was 
making  up  her  mind  what  to  choose, 
Harriet  thought  she  would  try  to  sit 
in  every  chair  in  the  furniture  depart- 
ment, but,  dear  me!  It  would  have 
taken  her  almost  all  day  to  do  that, 
Mr.  Lerner  had  so  many  chairs  to  sell. 
There  were  drawing-room  chairs  and 
library  chairs  and  dining-room  chairs, 
bedroom  chairs,  kitchen  chairs,  and 
office  chairs,  leather  chairs,  satin-cush- 

120 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

ioned  chairs,  rocking-chairs,  babies' 
high  chairs,  red,  brown,  yellow,  and 
green  chairs — and  that  is  n't  half  the 
kinds  there  were  in  that  great  huge 
chair  department!  Harriet's  knees  were 
all  tired  out  with  climbing  by  the  time 
Mother  had  decided  on  her  chairs,  and 
when  they  came  to  their  next  stopping- 
place  Harriet  was  glad  to  sit  still  on 
the  stool  by  the  counter  while  Mother 
chose  the  flowered  cretonne  which  was 
to  cover  the  cushions  for  her  chairs. 

In  other  departments  they  bought 
middy  blouses  for  Harriet  and  for  her 
Mother  too,  and  thread  and  needles 
and  pins  and  writing  paper  and  en- 
velopes and  stockings  and  other  things 
beside. 

At  last  Mother  said,  "There,  I'd 
better  stop,  or  Father  won't  have 
money  enough  left  to  buy  our  tickets 
to  Maine  ! " 

121 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

But  of  course  Harriet  knew  that 
Mother  was  joking.  Father  always  said 
they  would  go  to  Maine  if  they  had 
to  go  barefoot ! 

Now  it  was  lunch-time,  so,  after 
tidying  up  in  the  ladies'  dressing-room, 
they  got  into  the  big  elevator  again 
and  were  carried  up  to  Lerner's  res- 
taurant on  the  fifth  floor.  A  great,  big 
room  was  filled  with  little  tables  cov- 
ered with  shining  silver  and  pretty 
dishes.  There  were  many  ladies  and  a 
few  gentlemen  and  some  little  chil- 
dren at  these  tables.  There  were  neat- 
looking  waitresses  flying  here  and  there 
bringing  trays  of  food  to  the  people. 

Harriet  and  Mother  found  a  seat 
near  a  window.  If  you  looked  out  of 
the  window  the  "  L  "  seemed  very  far 
below,  and  the  people  on  the  side- 
walks looked  very  small. 

Soon  a  pretty  waitress    brought    a 

122 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

card  on  which  was  printed  the  names 
of  all  sorts  of  good  things  to  eat. 
Mother  chose  from  this  card  Harriet's 
favorite  soup,  then  tomato  and  lettuce 
salad,  rolls  and  butter,  milk  for  Har- 
riet and  tea  for  Mother  —  and  straw- 
berry ice  cream  for  both  ! 

Oh,  but  that  lunch  tasted  good! 
Harriet  was  just  as  hungry  as  if  she 
had  n't  stuffed  herself  at  breakfast-time. 
The  pretty  waitress  smiled  when  Har- 
riet gave  a  little  squeal  on  seeing  the 
ice  cream.  There  was  n't  one  speck 
of  pink  cream  left  on  the  plate  when 
Harriet  had  finished  with  it,  you  may 
be  sure. 

After  lunch  Mother  said,  "If  you  're 
not  too  tired  we  might  walk  along 
looking  into  the  windows  a  little  while 
before  we  go  home." 

Of  course  Harriet  was  not  too  tired, 
so  they  went  out  into  the  noisy  street 

124 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

again.  It  was  even  more  crowded  than 
it  had  been  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
morning,  so  many  people  during  the 
lunch  hour  were  hurrying  to  their 
eating-places.  Suddenly  Harriet  heard 
at  a  distance  a  furious  "Clang!  Clang!" 
and  the  people  exclaimed,  "  Fire ! " 
and  Harriet's  Mother  quickly  drew  her 
into  a  doorway  out  of  the  crowd. 
Then  you  should  have  seen  that  street ! 
The  wagons  and  automobiles,  quick 
as  a  wink,  drew  themselves  close  to 
the  curbstone  and  stood  still,  the 
trolley  cars  stopped  running,  people 
who  had  been  crossing  the  street  flew 
to  the  sidewalks,  and  in  an  instant  a 
fire  engine  dashed  by  and  then  came 
another  and  another  engine,  and  it  was 
perfectly  wonderful  to  see  them  go  so 
fast  through  that  crowded  street  and 
not  run  over  a  single  thing.  Lots  of  the 
people  ran  after  the  engines,  to  see  the 

125 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

fire,  but  Harriet  and  her  Mother  kept 
close  in  their  place  of  safety,  and  pres- 
ently the  cars  started  again  and  every- 
thing moved  on  as  before  the  excite- 
ment. 

They  walked  by  the  "  5  and  i  o  cent 
store,"  a  place  Harriet  loved,  because 
it  was  so  easy  to  buy  Christmas  pres- 
ents there  for  a  great  many  people, 
even  if  one  were  a  little  girl  with  not 
much  money  to  spend.  They  did  not 
go  into  this  store  to-day. 

Next  they  passed  a  window  all  fixed 
up  to  look  like  a  camp.  There  was  a 
real  tent  with  a  flap  open  showing  the 
cot  and  camp-chairand  trunk  and  other 
furnishings  inside.  There  were  figures 
of  men  and  boys  dressed  in  campers' 
clothes,  some  of  the  figures  cooking  a 
meal,  others  fishing,  others  chopping 
kindlings  for  the  fire.  This  window  was 
to  let  people  know  that  in  this  store  you 

126 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 


could  buy  fish  poles  and  tents  and  fold- 
ing stoves  and  axes  and  khaki  trousers 
and  rainproof  hats  and  everything  a 
camper  could  possibly  need.  Har- 
riet gazed  a  long  time  at  this  win- 
dow. 

A  little  farther  on  she  gave  such  a 
shriek  of  delight  that  several   people 

1 27 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

on  the  sidewalk  turned  and  smiled.  It 
was  a  florist's  window  that  pleased 
Harriet  so  much.  In  this  window  was 
a  Japanese  garden,  which  looked  so  ex- 
actly like  the  garden  where  Taro  and 
Take,  the  "Japanese  Twins,"  lived, 
that  Harriet  was  too  happy  for  words 
in  looking  at  it.  There  was  a  little  wind- 
ing stream  with  tiny  curved  bridges 
crossing  it,  there  were  queer  little  tea- 
houses on  little  islands,  there  were  tiny 
trees  and  tiny  Japanese  people  stand- 
ing in  the  garden,  there  were  wee  swans 
on  the  water  —  oh,  it  was  a  beautiful 
sight!  Harriet  drank  it  in  with  joy  and 
Mother  let  her  stand  almost  as  long  as 
she  wished  before  saying:  — 

"Now,  dear,  I  think  we  must  go 
home." 

Harriet,  clinging  to  her  Mother's 
hand  walked  along  looking  backward 
at  little  Japan,  and  when  they  turned 

128 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  WEDNESDAY 

from  a  last  look  Harriet  threw  kisses 
back,  for  love  of  Taro  and  Take. 

When  they  got  into  the  "  L,"  Har- 
riet was  too  tired  to  care  to  look  out 
of  the  windows  and  she  was  very  will- 
ing to  take  along  nap  when  theyreached 
home.  After  dinner  she  called  for  one 
story  out  of  the  "Japanese  Twins,"  and 
then  she  was  quite  ready  to  be  put  into 
her  little  crib,  where  she  dropped  off 
to  sleep  before  she  had  finished  saying 
her  prayers. 

So  this  is  the  end  of  the  Sixth  Story 
about  Harriet  and  what  she  did  on 
Wednesday. 


What  Harriet  did  on  Thursday 


VII 

THIS  IS  THE  SEVENTH  STORY  ABOUT  HARRIET 
IT   TELLS   WHAT    SHE    DID   ON   THURSDAY 

I  HATE  dreadfully  to  tell  you  this 
Story  about  Harriet,  because  I  shall 
have  to  tell  that  on  this  day  she  was 
a  very  naughty  little  girl  —  oh,  very 
naughty,  indeed ! 

It  began  with  her  being  waked  up 
before  she  had  had  a  long  enough 
sleep.  James,  the  janitor  down  in  the 

133 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

basement,  blew  a  very  shrill  whistle 
on  the  speaking-tube. 

Harriet  awoke  with  a  start.  She 
began  to  cry.  First  it  was  a  frightened 
cry,  and  Mother  sympathized  with 
her,  but  soon  it  changed  to  a  cross 
cry. 

While  Mother  was  washing  her  face, 
Harriet  cried  again  because  she  said 
Mother  got  soap  in  her  eyes.  Dear 
Mother  answered  gently:  — 

"There  is  no  soap  in  your  eyes, 
dear.  I  have  n't  put  a  bit  of  soap  on 
the  wash  cloth  yet." 

But  Harriet  insisted  that  her  eyes 
smarted  from  soap. 

Then,  when  Mother  combed  her 
hair,  softly  and  carefully,  Harriet  cried 
again  and  said  Mother  was  pulling 
awfully. 

Mother  took  no  notice  because  she 
knew  Harriet  was  very  tired,  and  she 

134 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 

hoped  her  little  girl  would  feel  better 
after  breakfast. 

But  at  the  breakfast  table  there  was 
more  trouble.  First  Harriet  acciden- 
tally tipped  over  her  glass  of  milk. 
The  milk  made  a  great  pool  on  the 
clean  tablecloth  and  ran  down  on 
Harriet's  pinafore  and  the  dining- 
room  rug. 

After  Mother  had  dried  the  wet 
things  and  had  taken  her  seat  at  the 
table  again,  Harriet  dropped  her  por- 
ridge spoon  on  the  carpet.  Then 
Mother  said  :  — 

"  Dearie,  be  careful!  You  are  very 
careless  this  morning." 

And  Harriet  answered  crossly,  "  I 
don't  care !  " 

Then  Father  looked  sternly  at  her 
and  said,  "  Harriet!  " 

That  made  Harriet  sit  up  and  be- 
have herself  for  a  while,  because  Father 

135 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

had  a  way  of  saying  "  Harriet !  "  or 
"John!"  or  "Sam!"  or  any  other 
name  that  would  make  even  a  big 
High-School  boy  shake  in  his  shoes  if 
he'd  been  bad. 

When  Father  went  off  to  school 
Harriet  did  not  run  to  the  window  to 
wave  good-bye  to  him. 

The  next  disagreeable  thing  she  did 
was  to  get  all  her  playthings  out  and 
strew  them  over  the  floor,  leaving 
many  of  them  near  the  door  so  that 
Mother  had  difficulty  getting  in  and 
out  of  the  room. 

Finally  Mother  said:  — 

"Your  toys  are  in  my  way  here, 
Harriet.  Please  move  them  away  from 
the  door." 

Then  Harriet  answered,  quite 
loudly :  — 

"I  won't!!" 

Yes,     she     actually    did     say    that 
136 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 

naughty  thing  to  her  dear,  kind 
Mother!  Would  you  believe  a  nice 
little  girl  could  say  such  a  thing  to 
her  Mother?    But  Harriet  really  did  ! 

Mother  was  so  astonished  that  she 
could  hardly  believe  her  ears.  Then 
she  said  :  — 

"  Why,  Harriet  Ames  Robertson  I 
What  is  the  matter  with  you  this  morn- 
ing ?  What  has  happened  to  my  little 
daughter  ?" 

Harriet  answered  promptly:  — 

"  I  got  up  on  the  wrong  side  of  the 
bed  this  morning,  like  the  Cock  and 
the  Mouse  !  " 

I  must  tell  you  what  Harriet  meant. 
Not  long  before  she  had  received  a 
present  of  a  little  book  called  "  The 
Cock  and  the  Mouse  and  the  Little 
Red  Hen."  The  book  had  many  droll 
pictures  in  it,  and  the  story,  Harriet 
thought,  was  perfectly  delightful.     It 

137 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

told  about  a  Cock  and  a  Mouse  and 
a  Little  Red  Hen  who  lived  in  a  little 
white  house  on  a  hill.  One  morning 
the  Cock  and  the  Mouse  were  very 
naughty  and  the  good  Little  Red  Hen 
had  lots  of  trouble  with  them.  Finally 
a  bad  Fox  got  into  the  house  and  car- 
ried away  in  his  bag  the  Cock  and  the 
Mouse'and  the  Little  Red  Hen.  Then 
the  Cock  and  the  Mouse  were  sorry 
they  had  been  so  bad ;  and  the  Little 
Red  Hen  got  them  all  safely  out  of 
the  bag,  and  after  that  the  Cock  and 
the  Mouse  were  as  good  as  gold. 

The  story  had  explained  that  the 
Cock  and  the  Mouse  got  up  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  bed  that  morning 
and  that  was  the  reason  they  were  so 
cross. 

So  Harriet  thought  she  could  ex- 
plain her  naughtiness  to  her  Mother 
by  saying  the  same  thing. 

138 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 

But  Mother  answered:  — 

"Oho!  So  that  is  what's  the  mat- 
ter !  Very  well,  then,  I  shall  be  the  Fox 
and  shall  put  you  into  my  great  bag 
until  you  decide  to  be  a  good  little  girl 
again." 

Harriet  looked  a  good  deal  inter- 
ested and  a  little  bit  scared  as  Mother 
got  the  clothes-basket,  lifted  Harriet 
into  it,  and  then  covered  her  with  news- 
papers, saying:  — 

"Now,  when  you  are  ready  to  be  as 
good  as  the  Little  Red  Hen  you  may 
snip  your  way  out  of  the  bag." 

At  first  Harriet  thought  this  was  fun. 
Then  she  began  thinking  how  bad  the 
Cockand  the  Mousehad  been,andhow 
sorry  they  had  felt  when  they  were  shut 
up  in  the  bag,  and  she  began  to  feel 
sorry  too.  Presently  she  cried  a  little, 
not  a  cross  cry  but  a  sorry  cry,  and  she 
called  out:  — 

139 


ABOUT  HARRIET 


"Now  Vm.  good,  Mother  dearie!" 

And  Mother  said,  "Very  well.  Little 
Red  Hen.  Get  out  your  scissors  and 
snip  a  hole  in  the  bag." 

So  Harriet  made  believe  her  fin- 
gers were  scissors,  and  she  made  a 
hole  in  the  newspapers,  and  jumped 
out  of  the  basket,  and  ran  to  her 
Mother,  her  face  all  smiles,  exclaim- 
ing: — 

"  Now  I  'm  good.  Mother,  now 
I  'm  good  !  " 

"Well,  I'm  very  thankful  to  hear 
it,"  said  Mother  as  she  kissed  her  lit- 
tle daughter. 

Harriet  played  quietly  on  the 
140 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 

floor  for  a  time  while  her  mother 
sewed. 

Presently  Harriet  said:  — 

"  Mother,  I  think  I  like  stories  of 
naughty  people  better  than  stories  of 
good  people." 

Mother's  face  was  bent  over  her 
sewing  as  she  answered:  — 

"  I  have  often  noticed  that,  my 
dear." 

"I  think  Daddy  does,  too,  Mum- 
sey,"  said  Harriet.  ''  He  always  laughs 
like  anything  at  Pinocchio  and  the 
Elephant's  Child  and  Brer  Rabbit 
when  they  are  naughty." 

"  But  Pinocchio  and  the  Elephant's 
Child  were  severely  punished  for  their 
naughtiness  and  they  reformed  and 
became  good,"  said  Mother. 

"  But  Brer  Rabbit  never  was  good," 
said  Harriet;  '^  and  Daddy  likes  him 
the  best  of  all." 

141 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

Mother  did  not  reply.  Soon  Har- 
riet said  again  :  — 

"  Daddy  was  a  naughty  boy  him- 
self when  he  was  little." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  ?  "  asked 
Mother. 

"  I  heard  him  tell  Uncle  Ned  how 
he  brought  a  calf  into  school  one  day, 
and  Uncle  Ned  and  Daddy  laughed 
hard,"  said  Harriet. 

"  But  Father  is  very  good  now," 
said  Mother. 

"Well,  he  had  lots  of  fun  first," 
answered  Harriet. 

Mother  hastily  got  up  and  went  out 
to  the  kitchen  to  see  to  her  cooking. 

All  the  morning  H  arriet  was  as  good 
as  possible.  At  the  lunch  table  she  was 
most  polite  and  careful,  and  after  her 
nap,  you  would  never  have  believed 
that  Harriet's  sunny  face  belonged  to 
the  same  little  girl  as  the  one  who  had 

142 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 

cried  so  much  and  been  so  cross  in  the 
morning*. 

After  Harriet's  "forty  winks"  — 
that's  what  she  called  her  little  nap 
—  she  and  Mother  put  on  their  fresh 
afternoon  dresses  and  ribbons  ready  to 
go  out  in  the  sunshine. 

"  Where  are  we  going  this  afternoon, 
Mother?"  asked  Harriet. 

"We  will  go  to  the  library  first," 
said  Mother,  "and  then  perhaps  we'll 
stop  and  see  Billy." 

"Oh,  goody!"  squealed  Harriet. 

So  they  walked  down  their  quiet 
little  street,  and  then  along  the  noisy 
avenue  of  shops,  and  then  down  an- 
other quiet  street  to  the  nearest  branch 
library.  They  walked  up  the  steps  into 
the  big  front  door  of  the  library,  and 
Mother  put  her  books  down  on  the 
counter  of  the  desk  where  a  young  lady 
stamped  Mother's  card  to  show  it  was 

H3 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

all  right  for  her  to  go  and  get  some  other 
books.  They  walked  around  back  of 
the  desk  and  into  the  children's  room, 
and  Mother  left  her  little  daughter  in 
the  children's  room  while  she  went  off 
to  the  grown  people's  shelves  to  find 
books  for  herself. 

*'What  kind  of  a  book  would  you 
like  to-day,  Harriet?"  asked  Miss 
Graham,  the  children's  librarian. 

"I  want  a  big  book,  with  light- 
houses and  whales  in  it,"  answered 
Harriet  promptly. 

"Very  well,  I  think  I  can  find  you 
one,"  said  Miss  Graham. 

But  all  the  sea  books  in  the  chil- 
dren's room  had  been  taken  out  by 
the  other  children,  so  Miss  Graham 
went  to  the  grown  people's  depart- 
ment, and  presently  came  back  bring- 
ing a  large  book  which  she  put  down 
on  the  table  in  front  of  Harriet. 

144 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 


"  Don't  try  to  lift  this  yourself, 
honey,  or  you  may  drop  it  and  break 
it,"  said  Miss  Graham. 

"  No ;  I  '11  be  very  careful,"  said 
Harriet. 

You  see  she  was  still  being  as  polite 
as  the  Little  Red  Hen  ! 

Harriet  enjoyed  the  sea  pictures  so 

H5 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

much  that  she  was  not  ready  to  go 
when  Mother  came  for  her. 

"  Oh,  Mother,  may  I  take  this  book 
home  ?  "  she  begged. 

"  Not  this  afternoon,  dear,  it  is  so 
heavy,"  said  Mother.  "  I  '11  tell  you 
what  we'll  do.  We  will  take  its  name 
and  get  Daddy  to  bring  it  home  the 
next  time  he  comes  to  the  library." 

Harriet's  lips  were  getting  ready  to 
pout,  but  she  suddenly  thought  that 
she  was  being  the  good  Little  Red 
Hen,  so  she  made  her  lips  look  pleas- 
ant and  said  very  sweetly:  — 

"All  right.  Mother  dear." 

Now  they  walked  back  up  the  li- 
brary street  for  two  long  blocks.  All 
the  houses  on  this  street  looked  ex- 
actly alike.  They  all  had  high  stone 
steps  up  to  the  front  doors.  These 
were  not  apartment  houses,  but  sin- 
gle-family  houses,  high   and    narrow. 

146 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 

Each  house  had  a  dining-room  and 
kitchen  in  the  basement,  big  parlors 
on  the  next  floor,  and  bedrooms  on 
the  floors  above. 

Harriet  and  her  Mother  stopped 
at  the  house  with  number  668  on  its 
front  door.  They  rang  the  doorbell 
and  soon  heard  small  feet  clattering 
along  the  hall.  Then  the  door  was 
opened  by  a  little  girl  nine  years  old. 

"  Oh,  Harriet !  "  cried  the  little  girl; 
"I'm  so  glad  to  see  you." 

The  little  girl,  whose  name  was 
Frances,  hugged  and  kissed  Harriet 
and  her  Mother,  then  led  them  into 
the  parlor,  saying :  — 

"I'll  go  and  tell  Mother  you  are 
here,  Mrs.  Robertson." 

"Is  Billy  awake?"  asked  Harriet, 
as  Frances  turned  to  go  up-stairs. 

"  No,buthewill  be  before  long,"  said 
Frances.   "We'll  have  time   to   show 

147 


ABOUT  HARRIET 


you  our  tent  out  in  the   yard  before 
he  wakes  up." 

Soon  Frances's  Mother  came  down- 
stairs and  greeted  Harriet  and  her 
Mother.  Then  the  two  little  girls  went 
down  into  the  tiny  yard  at  the  back 
of  the  house  and  there  was  the  nicest 
little  tent  that  ever  you  saw.  Frances's 
big  brother  Arthur  had  set  it  up  for 
his  little  sisters  Frances  and  Margaret. 
This  afternoon    two  little   neighbors, 

148 


WHAT  SHE  DID  ON  THURSDAY 

Priscilla  and  Betty,  were  playing  with 
Frances  and  Margaret,  and  they  were 
just  getting  ready  for  afternoon  tea 
when  Harriet  and  Frances  arrived. 

All  the  children  were  glad  to  see 
Harriet.  The  tent  wasjust  large  enough 
to  allow  the  five  little  girls  to  squeeze 
into  it,  and  oh!  how  good  the  "cam- 
bric tea"  tasted  from  the  tiny  pink  rose- 
bud cups  and  the  wee  pewter  spoons! 

After  a  while  Frances's  Mother  came 
to  the  window  and  called:  — 

"Girls,  Billy  is  awake.  Do  you  want 
to  see  him? " 

Indeed,  they  did  want  to  see  Billy. 
They  hastily  left  the  tea-party,  not 
stopping  to  wash  the  dishes,  and  hur- 
ried up  to  the  parlor. 

There  was  Baby  Billy  on  Harriet's 
Mother's  lap;  and  when  the  little  girls 
flocked  around  him  he  laughed  and 
crowed  with  delight,  clapping  his  dim- 

149 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

pled  hands  and  playing  peek-a-boo  and 
doing  all  his  pretty  tricks.  He  was  the 
jolliest  and  friendliest  baby  you  can 
imagine,  and  his  sisters  thought  there 
never  were  such  golden  curls  and  such 
blue  eyes  and  such  dimples  on  any 
baby  as  on  their  Billy  Boy. 

It  was  very  hard  for  both  Harriet 
and  her  Mother  to  leave  the  lovely 
babyandallthenicepeopleat  Frances's 
house,  but  Mother  promised  they  would 
come  again  soon  and  next  time  they 
would  stay  longer.  So  after  hugs  and 
kisses,  Harriet  started  down  the  long 
stone  steps  with  her  Mother.  She  turned 
to  wave  to  the  little  girls  until  she 
got  down  to  the  corner  of  the  street; 
and  there,  because  it  was  getting  late, 
Mother  and  Harriet  took  the  trolley 
car  home  to  Daddy  and  dinner. 

After  dinner  Harriet  begged  her 
Mother  and  Daddy  to  play  the  Cock 

150 


ABOUT  HARRIET 

and  the  Mouse  and  the  Little  Red 
Hen.  Motherwas  the  Mouse  and  Har- 
riet was  the  good  Little  Red  Hen. 
Daddy  had  to  be  first  the  Cock,  then 
the  bad  Fox,  then  the  Cock  again. 
Daddy  was  such  a  rude  Cock  and  such 
a  fierce  Fox,  and  Mother  was  such  a 
naughty  Mouse  that  Harriet,  the  Lit- 
tle Red  Hen,  privately  resolved  that 
she  would  never  again  be  so  bad  as  she 
had  been  that  morning  before  she 
changed  to  the  Little  Red  Hen. 

And  I  hope  she  remembered  her 
resolve,  always,  don't  you? 

And  this  is  the  end  of  the  Seventh 
Story  about  Harriet  and  what  she  did 
on  Thursday. 

THE    END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .    A 


GENERAL  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA— BERKELEY 

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